DTI releases new food regulations to avoid legal action putting essential workers, old and vulnerable people at risk
New lockdown regulations, which prohibit the distribution and selling of warm and cooked food, is putting the most vulnerable members of our population at increased risk and was probably rushed through to avoid legal action, according to business organisation Sakeliga. This follows after Sakeliga demanded in last week that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, provide an undertaking to cease and reverse his pronouncements prohibiting the production and sales of “prepared”, “warm” […]
Unaltered lockdown doing more harm than good as economic collapse looms
The lockdown in its current form is doing more harm than good. 66% of Sakeliga respondents now expect 2020 turnover drop greater than 25%.
Results of Sakeliga’s first Covid-19 Business Impact Survey
NOTE: PRELIMINARY RESULTS AS AT 2 APRIL 2020 INTRODUCTION The news we share below is not good news, but it is better to face reality squarely than to underestimate the challenge. Sakeliga’s research team is currently polling our members and our network on the impact of the Covid-19 regulations. The picture that emerges is one […]
Opinion: Covid-19 lockdown and the scale of the restrictions – how many people may be affected?
An opinion piece for Sakeliga’s Policy Radar In our previous policy radar opinion piece, we looked at the economy and the effects of production closures and the demarcation of essential products and services by policymakers. These steps are being taken in response to the danger posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The dangers are of course […]
Sakeliga appeals to President on SMME provision of essential goods and services
Business organisation Sakeliga has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa, requesting his urgent assistance to allow SMME’s to continue delivering essential goods and services. Sakeliga’s letter to the President follows unanswered urgent letters to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC). In its letters to the DTIC, Sakeliga requested the urgent revocation of the DTIC’s unlawful and impossible instruction that all business wishing to provide essential goods and services should obtain a […]
How to stay open during the state of disaster (legal opinions included)
There is currently a great deal of confusion about dealing with the delivery of essential services and products. This letter contains links to legal opinions and can help clear up uncertainty surrounding: businesses (e.g. sole proprietorships) who are struggling to register with the CIPC as “essential businesses”; enterprises that require employees and/or external service providers […]
Policy Radar Opinion Piece: Covid-19 Lockdown and its impact on production
Covid-19 and the response to it is one of the most significant events of the past decades. As posited in a recent Sakeliga Webinar, there is considerable pressure on policymakers to act. However, it is not always clear what the right course of action is. Different countries are following different approaches, and outcomes differ noticeably. […]
Government accepts Sakeliga’s proposed amendments to lockdown-regulations
Businesspeople and their employees are now allowed to work from home. This, and other corrections and concessions as published earlier today, are in line with Sakeliga’s insistence in several public calls and letters of demand to national departments. Other corrections and concessions include that critical maintenance should also be considered an essential service. Business and the public’s right to claim damages against erroneous applications of the law has now been restored as well. “Sakeliga welcomes the promulgation […]
Sakeliga welcomes partial disavowal of concept BEE-regulations
Business organisation Sakeliga today welcomed the partial disavowal from some quarters of government of the leaked BEE-criteria for SMME relief but remains concerned that not all Departments are on board. Sakeliga will therefore launch a platform at www.sakeliga.co.za tonight for all businesses to notify Sakeliga of their applications and outcomes. “We welcome the Department of Small Business Development’s public disavowal of the leaked concept BEE-criteria for SMME relief. The Covid-19 crisis is not the time for BEE. We await the final criteria, which we […]
Sakeliga will not accept racism against SMME’s
Business organisation Sakeliga today condemned race-based criteria for Covid-19 financial aid to small businesses. “We note with great concern that the new SMME relief fund requires applicants to indicate the race of shareholders and employees. The Covid-19 crisis is not the time for government to apply BEE-criteria. It is a time for extraordinary relaxation of out-dated ideological interventions so that the small and medium-sized businesses of this country can pick us up […]