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Registered spaza shops and general dealers that have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be assisted with funding from the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD). 

Funding of R7 000, per spaza shop or general dealer, will be provided by the DSBD, which has partnered with Nedbank to facilitate the Spaza Shops and General Dealers Support Scheme. The scheme forms part of the Small Enterprise Finance Agency’s Khula Credit Guarantee Scheme.

The National Department of Health recommends that everyone in South Africa should wear a cloth face-mask (also known as a non-medical mask) when in public. 

Commuters travelling in taxis and other forms of public transport, as well as people spending time in spaces where physical distancing is difficult to practice, are mustwear cloth face-masks.

COVID-19 relief funds have been made available for unemployed people and payments should be made from mid-May.

South African citizens, permanent residents and refugees who have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) will benefit from the Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant. 

The grant was initially announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April when he talked about the socio-economic measures that government would introduce to assist citizens in need during the various levels of the national lockdown. 

South Africans can help the nation reopen for business and leisure by adhering to the prevailing restrictions.

South Africa has officially moved to Level Four lockdown restrictions, put in place to slow the spread COVID-19 the coronavirus disease.

COVID-19 infections in South Africa continue to rise and the virus poses a significant threat to our country. Government has thus taken a careful approach, consisting of five lockdown levels, to fully reopen the economy.

Level Four explained

South Africa moved from Level Five to Level Four on 1 May.

Government is making good on its promise to cushion the financial impact of the lockdown on the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

Government has temporarily increased social grants for South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries as of May, to alleviate poverty among millions of citizens.

Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu says social grants remain a critical safety net for the poor during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Relief Fund has come to the rescue of 293 financially distressed athletes, Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced recently.

This comes after a R150 million relief fund was announced to assist artists, athletes, technical personnel and the core ecosystem of the sector.

The entire world is in the unrelenting grip of the coronavirus pandemic, whose spread has been rapid. A vaccine has yet to be found. Across the world, over 3.4 million people are known to be infected and more than 240,000 have died. These are indeed desperate times. 

Proudly SA provides an online portal for local fabric face mask manufacturers to sell to the public.

Proudly South African (Proudly SA) has established an internet portal to help South Africans source locally made fabric face-masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID19). 

With colleges and universities not re-opening for now, institutions have to use all available tools to reach their students until contact learning can resume.

The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has decided not to resume with campus-based academic activity in the post-school education and training (PSET) sector during the Level Four lockdown period.

People can have the coronavirus disease and not feel sick, which means that unless they practise social distancing, they could spread the virus to others in their community. This was the case recently in the Eastern Cape.

The death of a King William’s Town resident who succumbed to the coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the wider community.

Nosango Mfaka (61) died at Grey Hospital a day after testing positive for COVID-19.