President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of national disaster in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic on 23 March 2020. A 3-week lockdown has been implemented in an effort to curb the spread of the virus in the hope of minimising the loss of life and long-term economic impacts. All non-essential businesses have been closed, yours might be one of them. However, time marches on and from the confines of your home, you still have a business to run.
With Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) set to be the hardest hit by the lockdown, many are worried. The good news is that the Government has decided to put measures in place to help local businesses that might be affected negatively by the restrictions implemented by the lockdown. It was rumoured that to qualify for aid, companies have to be 51% black-owned, this is fake news. Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni of the Department of Small Business Development confirmed that they are supporting all small businesses in South Africa across every demographic of the South African population.
The Department of Small Business Development has launched a debt relief fund to assist and mitigate the impact of the economic shutdown caused by the Coronavirus on SMME’s. For a business to be eligible for assistance under the debt relief fund, a direct link must be demonstrated of the impact or the potential impact of COVID-19 on business operations. This facility will assist entities to acquire raw material, pay labour and operational costs. All these interventions will be structured to match the patterns of the SMMEs cash flows, as well as the extent of the impact suffered.
To qualify for access to the fund, businesses will be required to register on the SMME South Africa platform at www.smmesa.gov.za. Some of the details which companies are required to share include:
- Annual turnover;
- Shareholders (including current BEE standing);
- Number of employees;
- Employee demographics;
- Sub-sectors.
Regardless of the nationwide lockdown, businesses have to keep their BEE up to date by doing the required financial planning and budgeting for the renewal of their BEE certificates. You may have never had an official BEE standing for your SMME, but now it is a requirement for application to the debt relief fund. We are assisting clients to apply for government assistance packages during these difficult times.
BEE verification agencies are required to be accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS), and therefore need to follow the procedures and processes prescribed by SANAS in performing BEE verifications. The usual process of undergoing formal BEE verification requires the authorisation of verification agencies to conduct on-site inspections and personal interviews as part of the verification process, without which no score can be given. SANAS has temporarily relaxed these requirements in light of the lockdown and will now allow the following:
- BEE verification agencies may conduct on-site visits remotely via any suitable recorded video communications channel;
- Any required BEE verification documents may be submitted to the verification agency or maybe viewed via any suitable video communications channel, which must be recorded appropriately;
- Interviews may be conducted via any suitable video/teleconferencing communications channel, which must be recorded and saved;
- A director of the measured entity must provide a sworn affidavit confirming the information provided to the verification agency, its physical location and that such information is true and accurate;
- A measured entity must provide the verification agency with proof of its physical address, which is no older than three months.
SEESA has always been committed to providing ongoing quality service to all of our clients, should you require any assistance applying for government assistance packages and/or require any other BEE related advice, please contact your nearest SEESA office and/or SMS “SEESA” to 45776 and a Legal Advisor will contact you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bernard Immink obtained his B.Com Law degree in 2012 and LL.B degree in 2015 from the University of Pretoria. After completing his articles he was admitted as an Attorney of the High Court in 2016. He joined SEESA Pretoria on 1 June 2018 as a BEE Legal Advisor.