Business Impact COVID-19 Lockdown in South Africa

Business Impact COVID-19 Lockdown in South Africa – Lockdown Measures

A nation-wide “lock-down” was enacted in terms of the Disaster Management Act which pronounced that “from midnight on Thursday 26 March until midnight on Thursday 16 April, all South Africans will have to stay at home”.  In other words, the lock-down will come into effect Friday and beyond, as confirmed by Minister Patel. (See Countdown Clock)

What does this mean

• Individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes except under strictly controlled circumstances, such as to seek medical care, buy food, medicine and other supplies or collect a social grant.
• All shops and businesses will be closed, except for pharmacies, laboratories, banks, essential financial and payment services, including the JSE, supermarkets, petrol stations and health care providers.
• companies whose employees are able to work from home, to maintain economic activity should make the necessary arrangements.

Essential Services

Companies that are essential to the production and transportation of food, basic goods and medical supplies will remain open.  The categories of people who will be exempted from this lockdown were indicated as

• health workers in the public and private sectors, including military medical personnel
• emergency personnel
• security services
• soldiers
• those involved in the production, distribution and supply of food and basic goods
• essential banking services
• the maintenance of power and water
• telecommunications services
• laboratory services, and
• the provision of medical and hygiene products.

More specifically these include essential staff in the following areas as confirmed by Minister Patel

• Grocery stores, supermarkets, and spaza shops will remain open during the “lock-down”
• those responsible for essential care of the elderly and sick persons, including home-care and old-age homes
• essential private security services for the protection of property and persons
• All essential back-office services to enable salary and human resource departments to work so as to ensure smooth management of wage and salary payments
• essential animal welfare and emergency veterinary services
• those who assist in transporting food and other essentials to people’s homes including on-line retail, as well as transport systems that support any of the essential services
• key maintenance systems required at workplaces to avoid serious damage to economic assets, where the interruption of that service will destroy critical working areas, factories or machinery
• Members of Parliament, Provincial legislatures, Municipal councils and their core staff, as well as government departments and public entities’ staff responsible to assist with implementation of the measures announced by the President, as they will all need to be working to make the country safe
• members of the media and broadcasting services, who will serve as a vital communication between ourselves and the public
• Transportation of fuel, food and basic goods supply trucks between SADC countries

Responsible Citizenship Requirements

People are required to limit the trips to shopping centres for the purpose of shopping for food and basic goods only, and not to gather in shopping malls.

Pharmacies will remain open during the “lockdown”.  Healthcare professionals providing essential services to the public will be open as well.

All essential items – food and beverages, medical suppliers, personal products, hygiene products, cleaning products – will remain available through the lockdown and the period of the national disaster. This means that all businesses essential for the production and distribution of these essential items will be allowed to remain in operation during the “lockdown”.

Businesses which remain in operation during the “lockdown” will be required to do so with all the staff required to ensure that the service or production is uninterrupted.

Businesses will also be required to take necessary protocols to ensure adequate hygiene and social distancing.

Consumer-facing businesses, like grocery stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and spaza shops, especially, will be asked to educate their staff and customers on the required protocols and to take reasonable steps to keep social distancing between customers.

While the limit of 100 people does not apply to essential services, we will still need all the affected businesses to take steps to protect workers through social distancing and public hygiene measures

The steps that companies must take include:

• Providing hand sanitisers at workplaces, as people enter, at key workstations and when they leave
• Managing clocking arrangements and canteen facilities and scheduling of work breaks, to limit the level of social interaction
• Disinfecting work surfaces that workers are exposed to

Support for people whose livelihoods will be affected

A special dispensation will be set-up for companies in distress.  It is envisaged that once finalised, employees will receive wage payment through the Temporary Employee Relief Scheme, which will enable companies to pay employees directly during this period and avoid retrenchment.

Any employee who falls ill through exposure at their workplace will be paid through the Compensation Fund.

Government calls on businesses to take care of their staff and appeals to large companies to accept the responsibility to pay workers affected.

In the event that it becomes necessary,  reserves within the UIF system to extend support to those workers in SMEs and other vulnerable firms who are faced with a loss of income and whose companies are unable to provide support will be promulgated.

UIF benefits will not be less than the national minimum wage of R3 500.00 per month.

Assistance for businesses that may be in distress

The following have also been announced in order to assist businesses in distress with cashflow.

• a tax subsidy of up to R500 per month for the next four months for those private-sector employees earning below R6,500 under the Employment Tax Incentive
• A payment delay of 20% of their pay-as-you-earn liabilities over the next four months and a portion of their provisional corporate income tax payments without penalties or interest over the next six months
• The Department of Small Business Development has made over R500 million available to assist small and medium enterprises that are in distress through a simplified application process. (see www.smmesa.gov.za)

Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act

Changes have also been affected by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act.  Compensation for occupationally acquired Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), has been introduced by means of amendments that have been promulgated on 20 March 2020.

What does this mean

•  A claim for occupationally- acquired COVID -19 shall clearly be set out as contemplated in and provided for in sections 65 and 66 of the COLD Act
• Occupations at Risk Categories has been defined
  •  Very high exposure risk occupations as those with high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of COVID -19 during specific medical, post mortem, or laboratory procedures. Workers in this category include:
    • Healthcare workers (e.g. doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics, emergency medical technicians) performing aerosol-generating procedures (e.g. intubation, cough induction procedures, bronchoscopies, some dental procedures and exams, or invasive specimen collection) on known or suspected COVID-19 patients
    • Healthcare or laboratory personnel collecting or handling specimens from known or suspected COVID -19 patients (e.g. manipulating cultures from known or suspected COVID-19 patients)
    • Morgue workers performing autopsies, which generally involve aerosol-generating procedures, on the bodies of people who are known to have, or suspected of having, COVID -19 at the time of their death.
  •  high exposure risk occupations are those with high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of COVID -19. Workers in this category include:
    • Healthcare delivery and support staff (e.g. doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff who must enter patients rooms) exposed to known or suspected COVID -19 patients
    • Medical transport workers (e.g. ambulance personnel and porters) moving known or suspected COVID -19 patients in enclosed vehicles
    • Mortuary workers involved in preparing (e.g. for burial or cremation) the bodies of people who are known to have, or suspected of having COVID -19 at the time of their death.
  • Medium exposure risk occupations are
    • those that require frequent and /or close contact with (i.e. within 2 meters of) people who may be infected with SARS- CoV -2, but who are not known or suspected COVID -19 patients. In areas without ongoing community transmission, workers in this risk group may have frequent contact with travellers who may return from international locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission
    • In areas where there is ongoing community transmission, workers in this category may have contact with the general public (e.g. in schools, high -population- density work environments, such as labour centres, consulting rooms, point of entry personnel and some high -volume retail settings)
  • Low exposure risk occupations are
    • Those that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being infected with Covid -19, nor frequent close contact with (i.e. within 2 meters of) the general public
    • Workers in this category have minimal occupational contact with the public and other co-workers
• The degree of impairment will be evaluated based on the complications of the Covid -19 from the affected body system(s)

• Benefits

  • The range of benefits includes consideration for Temporary total disablement (TTD), Permanent Disablement and medical aid and death benefits
  •  These will generally apply for 30 days only unless otherwise determined by the Commissioner of the Compensation Fund (see section 5 of the amendment)
  •  The Commissioner has the powers to assess each case on merit and determine the impact or level of disablement
  • The benefits will apply in all circumstances albeit self- quarantine for unconfirmed cases, confirmed cases and instances of permanent disablement or even death
  • Form COVID-19 EXPOSURE AND MEDICAL QUESTIONNAIRE are to be completed by the employer

By Joe February
https://Arenaps.co.za

Also, see these articles

https://arenaps.co.za/covid-19-employees-employers/

https://arenaps.co.za/how-will-your-business-survive-covid-19/

https://arenaps.co.za/arenaps-equal-pay-for-work-of-equal-value/

Arena Disclaimer

We’ve taken due care to only elicit information from those pronounced by the various ministers.  In some instances, we’ve taken direct statements and publications, and in others, we prepared a narrative.

The article is not intended to be all-encompassing or the ultimate authority on the matters raised, but these are mainly intended to assist our clients and online followers to have a handy resource containing relevant information as it relates to the business and employee impacts.