The Western Cape wants the South African government to provide a support package for businesses whose operations are limited or shut down, especially wine farms, restaurants and coffee shops.
This follows the country’s move to adjusted Level 4 lockdown because of the surge of Covid-19 cases.
MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier said this week that he wrote to the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, to request that he reopen the UIF Covid-19 Ters scheme for the duration of the Alert Level 4 restrictions.
He said the reinstatement of UIF Ters will assist businesses and employees who are not able to operate.
“Many businesses, particularly in the hospitality and liquor sectors, have already been hard hit with significant job losses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Wine farms, restaurants and coffee shops cannot survive on takeaways alone. Two weeks of no income for these businesses, as well as cinemas, gyms, casinos, conferencing venues and theatres, will have a direct and sudden impact on people’s livelihoods, their ability to pay salaries, rent and buy food.
“The UIF Ters funds could provide the lifeline that businesses and employees need to sustain their operations while these restrictions on the economy are in place,” he said.
The Level 4 regulations severely impacted many tourism and aviation businesses.
Sun International announced it would temporarily close its hotels and resorts, including Sun City Resort and Wild Coast Sun.
In addition, Sun International will close all its restaurants and casino properties to adhere to the new Covid-19 regulations.
The group’s chief operations officer for hospitality, Graham Wood, said: “Given the new restrictions on leisure travel into and out of Gauteng, alcohol and the curfew, our hotels and resorts will struggle to operate, so we have taken a decision to temporarily close them.”