The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) has released the details of the Economic Rebuilding Package, a R3.75 billion package is for the restoration of businesses adversely affected during the violent looting and unrests that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month.
The dtic and its development finance institutions, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) have collectively put together a funding package in support of various business recovery interventions.
The aim is to provide industrial loan support at zero percent interest rate to affected companies towards the rebuilding of infrastructure, including equipment, fittings for the premises, stock and working capital.
The following extract of the guideline explains the motivation and process followed:
“In the wake of the civil unrest that has engulfed parts of our country, the dtic monitored the impact of the turmoil on business activity, set up a hotline and conducted a survey across all businesses to determine the level of damage, to develop appropriate support measures to assist companies during the process of rebuilding and economic stabilisation in the country.
On Thursday, 29 July 2021, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Mr Ebrahim Patel announced the Economic Recovery Fund for affected parties in KZN and Gauteng provinces. Government has earmarked R3.75 billion for a fund to support the restoration of businesses devastated in violent looting and unrest. The fund is part of the broader R38 billion relief package announced by the Minister of Finance.
The dtic survey received responses from 1 200 companies, of which 900 were directly affected by the riots, in terms of damage to property, stock theft and/or broken supply chains. The preliminary estimates indicate that the damage is in excess of R5 billion, reflecting loss of assets and significant property damage suffered by businesses. More importantly, the survey confirmed that at least 10 200 jobs were affected across manufacturing, retail and service businesses.
43% of respondents estimated they could recover in less than a month, whereas 7% predicted it would take a year or more.”
Click here to download the document. Contact details of all the relevant support lines are on the first page of the pdf.
The following news articles share more information on the package:
Engineering News: DTIC opens R3.75bn relief package for businesses affected by civil unrest
SA News: dtic announces economic recovery support interventions
https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/dtic-announces-economic-recovery-support-interventions