COVID-19 STATE OF DISASTER

• A new temporary employer-employee relief scheme (TERS) directive was gazetted on 3 March. Its contents were later confirmed in a Department of Employment and Labour media statement. The directive:
  • is retrospectively applicable from 16 October 2020
  • will remain in place until 15 March
  • makes benefits payable only to persons contributing towards unemployment insurance
  • delinks payments from ‘normal benefits and provisions’
  • prescribes the eligibility criteria to be met
  • list sectors to which the directive is likely to be applicable
  • confirms that, subject to the fund’s discretion, employees in ‘any industries’ forming part of the value chain of each sector identified may also qualify for benefits under the scheme
  • states that, depending on the availability of ‘sufficient’ credits, a UIF contributor may apply for reduced work time benefits if:
    • their employer does not fall under sectors listed in the directive, but
    • is still unable to make use of their services, and
  • confirms that an employee quarantined or isolated during the State of Disaster is:
    • only entitled to TERS benefits if their employer provides the necessary affidavit, but
  • is not required to ‘exhaust their sick leave’ before applying.

 

• On 1 March, a directive was issued on air services:
  • prohibiting on-board catering during domestic passenger flights (except for bottled water), and
  • requiring anyone affected by a long-haul flight to present evidence of a flight ticket if stopped by law enforcement officers during curfew hours.
  • NB: The new directive:
    • was issued under the disaster management regulations for adjusted lockdown level three, and
    • does not reflect all five airports now open for scheduled international passenger and charter flights in terms of the amended disaster management regulations for lockdown level one now in force.

 

• The closing paragraphs of a Department of Home Affairs media statement issued on 3 March lists the services now available.

FINANCE

• in keeping with an announcement in the recent Budget speech, and with the aim of facilitating increased investment in infrastructure, proposed amendments to Regulation 28 under the 1956 Pension Funds Act have been released for comment.

 

• The South African Reserve Bank has called for input on a consultation paper exploring the feasibility of establishing a domestic card scheme.

 

MINING

• Draft regulations prepared under the 1993 Geoscience Act have been gazetted for comment, among other things proposing that:
  • all geoscience data and information is lodged with the Council for Geoscience, irrespective of whether it:
    • was collected for reconnaissance, prospecting or unrelated purposes, or
    • is held by a domestic or foreign entity.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL

• A recent Government Gazette notice has confirmed the 1 March commencement of new:
  • alien and invasive species lists (excluding rainbow and brown trout), and
  • related regulations.

 

• A draft revised national biodiversity framework has been gazetted for comment.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby