COVID-19

• A directive has been gazetted on measures specific to the social development sector. Apparently published after Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu provided more details on the reintroduced social relief of distress grant, the backdated directive explains:
  • the personal information verification process
  • the monthly reapplication and review process
  • the reassessment or appeal process
  • how grants paid to ‘irregular’ beneficiaries will be recovered
  • what happens to uncollected grants, and
  • what happens when a beneficiary passes away after successfully applying for relief.
• The directive also removes an adjusted lockdown level four restriction on:
  • visits to ‘older persons residential facilities’, and
  • sit-down meals at community nutrition and development centres.

 

UNREST

• A ministerial directive gazetted on 10 August established a temporary relief scheme for people whose jobs were affected by the recent unrest. The directive also sets out:
  • income replacement eligibility criteria
  • how payments will be calculated, and
  • the procedures to be followed when applying.
• A Department of Employment and Labour media statement on the scheme has confirmed that anyone whose employer is not yet registered with Unemployment Insurance Fund will not be able to ‘access the benefit’ until that employer is registered.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

• Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille has issued a media statement providing insight into the draft national infrastructure plan recently released for public comment.

ENERGY

• On 12 August, Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act was amended to reflect President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcements in June:
  • increasing the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects to 100 MW, and
  • exempting certain activities from licensing and registration obligations.

• National Treasury has called for public comment on a draft notice on renewable energy premium rates.

ECONOMY

• The Competition Commission has called for public comment on draft localisation guidelines to be used when competitors collaborate on industry-specific initiatives.

FINANCE

• The Financial Sector Conduct Authority has called for public comment on a draft conduct standard for co-operative financial institutions.

• The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors has released two documents for public comment:
  • a draft guideline on search and seizure procedures, and
  • a draft guideline on the procedures to be followed when referring non-audit complaints about registered auditors and candidate auditors to accredited professional bodies.

Prepared by Pam Saxby