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A total of 4 424 720 applications for Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant have been approved.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said that the department has to date, received 7 558 555 applications through the various electronic application platforms, including Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Website, WhatsApp and email.

“A total of 2 174 046 applications were found to be active on various databases, including those who are currently receiving social grants, receiving Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits or are appearing on the active database of UIF contributors, those who are receiving National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) stipends, [and] those who are found on government employee’s databases (Persal and persol),” Zulu said.

The Minister was speaking at the Social Cluster media briefing on socio-economic measures under the enhanced level 3 of the risk-adjusted strategy, held on Monday.

R1 billion paid for May applications

In line with the department’s commitment to pay successful applications from May 2020, Zulu said that 3 429 808 of the approved applications were paid as at 12 July 2020.

“We have so far disbursed R1 200 432 800. These payments are all for applicants who applied in May 2020. South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will on a monthly basis, re-assess all applications to ensure that, where circumstances have changed and income is received from any other source, the grant will not continue to be paid.

“The re-assessment of all applications has already commenced and the applicants are being re-assessed against SOCPEN (Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens), UIF, NSFAS, Persal and Persol, in preparation for batch release of June payments from this week,” Zulu explained.

The Minister also acknowledged that the department is currently experiencing challenges in relation to the speedy administration and payment of the Special COVID-19 SRD Grant.

Among the challenges include slow processing of the special COVID-19 SRD Grant, bank accounts that failed the verification process, as well as a high number of declined applications.

Zulu explained that the initial delays in processing have been largely due to systems development which has been custom developed for the special COVID-19 SRD Grant alone, the need for multiple data verification sources, and slow response to requests to provide banking details by successful applicants, amongst others.

She said SASSA has enhanced its systems to improve the validation processes.

123 000 failed bank accounts verification

Zulu said that a high number of applicants failed the bank accounts verification process largely due to errors in the capturing of banking information and some applicants attempting to use other people’s bank accounts.

“Approximately 123 000 failed bank account verification which is facilitated through the National Treasury, prior to crediting of accounts. In this regard, SASSA has requested Post Bank to open accounts for the clients to enable payment without delay. Clients will be able to update their banking details and preferences in future should they wish to make use of different bank accounts or even the cash send option and not continue receiving the money through the post office,” the Minister said.

Reconsideration of previously declined applications

Zulu said SASSA has undertaken an internal reconsideration of previously declined applications due to UIF, after having received an updated database from the Department of Labour and Employment.

“The number of declined applications as a result of the ID having been found on the UIF database has declined significantly. Approximately 900 000 validated applications were found to potentially qualify for payment from May 2020 following the reconsideration process.

“SMS messages were sent to all these applicants indicating that they have been provisionally approved and must provide SASSA with their banking details. SASSA is currently processing payments to these applicants,” Zulu said.

Recourse mechanism for declined applicants

In order to address further exclusion errors, Zulu said, SASSA is implementing a recourse mechanism for applicants who have been declined and wish to review the decision.

She said that applicants can now direct their appeals for review to covid19srdappeals@sassa.gov.za

“This facility will have dedicated staff to respond timeously to all emails. I would like to point out that applicants requesting recourse need not upload documents – the recourse process will be electronic. Work is currently underway to develop a recourse mechanism which will attend to the complaints and disputes raised, while not extending the life span of this intervention.

“In addition, any recourse mechanism will have to be electronic in order to cope with the numbers involved – manual processes are not a viable option at all. The recourse process will be gazetted in due course. This will provide the legal framework within which the reassessments will take place,” the Minister said.

With 11 554 new COVID-19 cases reported on Monday, Gauteng has surpassed the 100 000 mark with a 103 713 infections recorded in the province.

To date, South Africa has 287 796 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

A further 93 COVID-19-related deaths brings the total number of deaths to 4 172.

Six of the deaths were from KwaZulu- Natal, 11 from Mpumalanga, 16 from the Free State, 37 from Western Cape and 23 from Eastern Cape.

“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased,” said Health Minister, Dr Zwelini Mkhize.

A total of 138 241 people have recovered from the virus, which translates to a recovery rate of 48%.

The total number of tests conducted to date is 2 194 624 with 40 233 new tests conducted since the last report.

The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has called on individual pilots to accept South African Airways Voluntary Severance Packages (VSPs) ahead of a crucial business rescue vote today.

“The DPE calls on individual pilots to accept South African Airways (SAA’s) VSPs and reject their union’s greedy demands, which appear to be magnanimous. [The] South African Airways Pilots Association has made proposals, including to the SAA Business Rescue Practitioners that create the optical illusion of financial savings for the airline,” said the department in a statement on Monday.

The DPE, which is the sole shareholder of SAA, expressed its dismay and concern at the South African Airways Pilots Association’s (SAAPA) stance in the matter.

”As the shareholder on behalf of the government, the DPE is disappointed that it has not dawned on the pilots that SAA is financially depleted, that the airline is in business rescue and fighting for its survival.”

The DPE said the 600 SAA pilots makeup 13% of SAA staff and constitutes 45% of the wage bill.

“The lowest of SAA’s 170 senior pilots earn R3.6 million a year, excluding perks and incentives. Of the R2.2 billion proposed budget for the VSPs, pilots will get more than R1 billion,” it said.

The department described SAAPA’s proposals as misleading.

“Whilst it makes the VSPs look very attractive for some employees, it does not highlight the financial risks it creates for the remaining employees and the company.”

It said that the terms and conditions of employment on which SAAPA insists for pilots are still based on the premise that SAA is an internationally competitive and profitable company when in fact the airline is insolvent and in business rescue.

The airline went into voluntary business rescue in December 2019 and introduced a radical restructuring process to ensure its financial and operational sustainability to reduce its ongoing impact on the fiscus.

Details of VSPs

According to DPE, the VSPs available to all employees include one week calculated per year of completed service, one-month notice pay, accumulated leave paid out, said the department.

The package also includes severance criteria calculated on a backdated 5.9% wage increase that was agreed to in November last year, a 13th cheque and a skills development model.

“SAAPA’s proposals are more lucrative and financially rewarding to themselves than any other class of employees at the airline,” the department said.

“In reality, these proposals are motivated by greed, it transfers a financial burden to a new airline that must emerge from the business rescue process and it motivates for pilots to hold on to historic benefits at the cost of all other SAA employees.”

The chair of SAAPA, Captain Grant Back, told media on Monday that the union has committed to negotiating new terms and conditions “just like the DPE has committed to a new board and new executive leadership”.

In an effort to eliminate the risk of criminals exploiting the COVID-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has introduced new stringent controls to verify banking details of recipients.

This comes after the Fund was in recent weeks exposed to opportunistic elements.

Due to the introduction of the new safety and security changes, the Fund has had to delay payments.

“However, over the weekend, it resumed payments and disbursed R 372 million of COVID-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) benefit claims,” said the Fund in a statement on Tuesday.

The payment covered claims for April and May lodged by 15 866 employers benefitting 78 283 employees for whose banking details passed the verification process.

Further payments were done on Tuesday with some R295-million paid out from 1 824 employers benefitting 76 078 workers.

This brings the total paid to date since April 16, to just under R30-billion (R 29 726 359 618.48) covering 6 789 695 workers from 539 953 employers.

Measures introduced

As part of the new control measures, the Fund has also introduced a new rule to the system that requires applicants to insert either their enterprise number (CK/CIPC) or the ID number of the bank account holder in the TERS Online portal.

This has been introduced in order to further verify banking details against the authorised claimant.

“This requirement which may seem onerous is critical to ensure banking details are verified before any TERS payment is authorised. Failure to populate the system properly will unfortunately lead to more delays in the payment process,” said UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping.

Fighting fraud

The Commissioner added that the Fund has been at the receiving end of fraud complaints after it emerged that certain individuals managed to change banking details of their companies and inserted their own.

“This situation has created a need for us to do an upfront account verification and validation before the payment is made, and we expect this to increase our turnaround time by two days as the accounts are verified and validated to ensure that fraud at company level is eliminated and reduced as far as possible.”

“We cannot overemphasise how important it is for companies to provide correct information that can be validated and verified with the banks so that there are no delays with the payment,” said Maruping.

The new changes come on the back of the Fund having paid up to R 1 billion directly into the bank accounts of 238 086 employees since April 2020. Direct payments to employees have not been affected by the new measures.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement to reinstate a ban on alcohol sales in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is reflective of an increased number of trauma cases seen in hospitals.

“It’s a decision that I don’t think he’s taken lightly. It’s a decision that was reflective of what we have been seeing in the last few days. Unfortunately if you look at the various levels of lockdown under level 5, our trauma units were nice and quiet. Under level 4, it was around 20% of the user volumes to about 40%,” Professor Steve Moeng said on Monday.

Moeng, who is head of trauma at Gauteng’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, spoke to SAnews following the President’s announcement of the immediate suspension of the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol during a televised address on Sunday night.

In his weekly newsletter on Monday, the President said there is clear evidence that the resumption of alcohol sales has resulted in substantial pressure being put on hospitals, including trauma and ICU units, due to motor vehicle accidents, violence and related trauma.

“We have therefore decided that in order to conserve hospital capacity, the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect,” he said in the newsletter.

Moeng said that since the country moved to level 3 of the lockdown on 1 June, hospitals have seen more trauma cases.

“Usually when it’s cold, trauma goes down, but unfortunately we have seen higher numbers. Unfortunately, that has had a negative impact in terms of our ability to deal with the COVID-19 load in our hospitals,” he said.

Moeng, who is also the academic head of trauma at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), said a hospital’s response to COVID-19 is put under pressure when the trauma load increases.

“Unfortunately it reduces that capacity for us to deal with other emergencies. Remember at the same time it’s the flu season and I understand why he may have found it worthwhile to sit down and see whether we can reduce the trauma load again. Unfortunately in this country the trauma that we see is related to alcohol,” said Moeng.

The Professor welcomed the decision announced by the President, saying it will afford hospitals time to pay more attention to COVID-19 which to date has affected at least 276 242 people in the country.

“From the health point of view, we would welcome this, it can help us to reduce and give us an opportunity to be able to pay more attention to COVID-19 again as those numbers are going higher and higher.”

He said there is a need to re-evaluate society’s relationship with alcohol.

“I think as a society at some stage we need to deal with the reality of that we have a problem when it comes to being able to manage responsibility of the alcohol component. We are further adding salt onto this wound from COVID-19.

“We have looked and combined our stats for different hospitals. So it would include Chris Hani Baragwaneth and Helen Joseph Hospital, a number of the same patterns have been seen in different institutions. All of them making us aware that they are seeing more and more trauma cases,” he said.

In the newsletter, President Ramaphosa said measures taken by government, including the reintroduction of a curfew between 9pm and 4am are necessary.

“We are taking these measures fully aware that they impose unwelcome restrictions on people’s lives. They are, however, necessary to see us through the peak of the disease. There is no way that we can avoid the Coronavirus storm. But we can limit the damage that it can cause to our lives,” said the President.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended his sincere condolences to the family of South Africa’s Ambassador to Denmark, Zindziswa “Zindzi” Nobutho Mandela.

Aged 59, Mandela passed away in the early hours of Monday, in a Johannesburg hospital.

She was the youngest daughter of the late Nelson Mandela and Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela.

She had been posted to Denmark in 2015 and had been designated to become South Africa’s Head of Mission in Monrovia, Liberia.

President Ramaphosa extended his condolences to the ambassador’s immediate family, the Mandela family at large, friends of the late ambassador, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

“I offer my deep condolences to the Mandela family as we mourn the passing of a fearless political activist who was a leader in her own right. Our sadness is compounded by this loss being visited upon us just days before the world marks the birthday of the great Nelson Mandela.

“Zindzi Mandela was a household name nationally and internationally, who during our years of struggle brought home the inhumanity of the apartheid system and the unshakeable resolve of our fight for freedom.

“After our liberation she became an icon of the task we began of transforming our society and stepping into spaces and opportunities that had been denied to generations of South Africans. Her spirit joins Tata Madiba and Mama Winnie in a reunion of leaders to whom we owe our freedom,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President also extended his condolences to the late ambassador’s colleagues in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and the diplomatic community in South Africa and Denmark.

The late ambassador was raised in Soweto and educated in South Africa as well as in Swaziland. She spent many years involved in the liberation struggle and embraced roles in the arts, philanthropy and business.

In her political career, she served as the Deputy President of the Soweto Youth Congress. She was also a member of the Release Mandela Campaign, and was an underground operative of Umkhonto weSizwe.

The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, says she has learnt with shock of the passing away of South Africa’s Ambassador to Denmark, Zindzi Mandela.

The department said it was still busy gathering information regarding her passing and will put out a detailed statement at a later stage.

On behalf of the department and herself, Pandor has expressed deep condolences to the Mandela family, friends and colleagues.

“Zindzi will not only be remembered as a daughter of our struggle heroes, Tata Nelson and Mama Winnie Mandela, but as a struggle heroine in her own right. She served South Africa well.

“May her soul rest in peace,” the Minister said.

The SABC is reporting that the 59-year-old passed away at a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of Monday morning.

According to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, on this day, 13 July 1969, Nelson Mandela’s eldest son Madiba Thembekile also known as Thembi died in a car accident.

The Department of Employment and Labour’s Kroonstad Labour Centre has shut its doors after an official tested positive for COVID-19.

“The office will be closed as of today and will be expected to reopen next week Thursday on the 16th of July 2020, subject to the availability of a supplier to decontaminate the office,” said the department in a statement on Friday.

This is the department’s first positive COVID-19 case in the Free State.

The office will be cleared for 48 hours for decontamination and will thereafter be back for operational purposes.

“Officials who were not in close proximity with the infected employee will be expected to return back to work. Officials who were in close contact with the employee who tested positive will be given 14 days off to allow them to self-isolate/quarantine at home,” the department said.

The department’s Director-General Thobile Lamati reaffirmed that the safety of staff remains paramount.

“Our officials are an important cog of the working of the South African economy and as such, we will also ensure that they are as safe as possible,” Lamati said.

In the meantime, clients are urged to use the department’s online systems or drop boxes located at the closed labour centre.

The matter has been reported to the Department of Health in the province.

The Department of Employment and Labour in Northern Cape has warned farmers and employers in the Namakwa area to be on the look out for suspicious individuals who act as inspectors in an attempt to access their farms.

Provincial Chief Inspector Ivan Vass said the Northern Cape’s Calvinia Labour Centre has since Monday, received complaints from farmers in the Brandvlei area about suspicious individuals who have been attempting to access their farms, posing as labour inspectors.

“We would like to warn our farmers and employers around the Hantam Local Municipality to be on a look-out for these suspicious characters that act as inspectors and try to trick employers into allowing them access to their farms or workplaces.

“The Department of Employment and Labour would like to put it on record that, currently all Inspections and Enforcement Services (Inspectors) are operating remotely and do not do active inspections across the province,” Vass said.

Vass said that the inspectors are currently performing administrative inspections remotely since the national lockdown and responding to Impimpa hotline cases, as well as emergency Occupational Health Safety Act inspections, when the need arises.

Vass said the incidents have been reported to the Area Commissioner of the South African Police Services for investigation.

The department has urged all farmers and employers in the areas to report any suspected cases directly to the SAPS on 08600 10 111.

“Employers are reminded that departmental inspectors carry identity cards, drive on clearly marked vehicles and make notifications for inspections, before visiting any workplace or farm,” Vass said.

Tourism Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, has reiterated that while easing the COVID-19 lockdown regulations in the tourism sector is aimed at assisting businesses, it has to be done under strict conditions to curb the further spread of the virus.

Addressing the Portfolio Committee on Tourism on Thursday, Kubayi-Ngubane said the department’s focus is on supporting domestic tourism as the first point of recovery.

“The recovery of the entire tourism industry would largely depend on how travel ready authorities are in terms of managing and controlling coronavirus locally and globally,” Kubayi-Ngubane warned.

Tourism relief fund

The department informed committee members that 3 861 companies and individuals have already benefited from the R200 million Tourism Relief Fund, with assistance capped at R50 000.

The department received more than 7 000 applications for assistance.

Tourism Director General, Victor Tharage, confirmed that the department has lost close to R1 billion in its readjusted budget, as announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.

However, Tharage said that although there are difficult times ahead for the industry and those dependent on it, his department would still be able to meet all its amended targets in line with its adjusted budget.

The committee has expressed its full support for the department’s efforts to reopen the tourism industry.

Committee Chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo, thanked the department for its commitment and effort to save the industry, while balancing the pressure, both from industry stakeholders and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We all have a role to play in defeating Coronavirus and rebuilding the tourism industry, and our economy. Therefore, you have the full support of this committee to appropriately manage the controlled opening of the tourism industry in line with broader government regulations,” Mahumapelo said.

He further called on all relevant parliamentary committees to support the industry in its drive to manage the reopening of the tourism industry, but to “do so cautiously without unnecessary risks to the lives of innocent citizens and the people who work in the industry”.