Covid-19

• On 2 November, the Departments of Small Business Development and Sport, Arts and Culture announced the availability of ongoing relief for qualifying organisations, enterprises and individual practitioners in the craft, design, visual arts and audio-visual sectors. Successful applicants will each receive a once-off payment capped at:
  • R15 000 for individuals, and
  • R30 000 for small, medium and micro enterprises, organisations and co-operatives.
• The social relief of distress grant’s extension to 31 January 2021 was confirmed on 2 November in the Government Gazette. The criteria to be met when applying for the grant are included in:
  • a ministerial directive issued on 9 May, which was
  • amended on 6 August to provide for reassessments and reviews.
• The Disaster Management Tax Relief Administration Act and Disaster Management Tax Relief Act have been gazetted, giving practical effect to Covid-19 lockdown economic relief measures announced in April by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

Presidential employment stimulus programme

• On 30 October, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture called for ‘ambitious proposals’ with the potential to retain existing jobs and create ‘opportunities for employment and collaboration’ that will ‘get income flowing and … the sector moving’ as part of government’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan. The intervention is:
  • part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s employment stimulus programme, and
  • will be administered by:
    • the National Film and Video Foundation
    • the Sports Trust), and
    • the National Arts Council.

 

Waste management

• New regulations came into force on 5 November with the aim of ensuring the ‘effective and efficient management’ of end-of-life products in three sectors for which separate schemes were also gazetted:
  • paper, packaging and single-use products
  • lighting, and
  • electrical and electronic equipment.

 

Sports broadcasting regulations

• Revised proposals for amendments to the 2010 sports broadcasting regulations have been gazetted for comment. Informed by input received on a version released in December 2018, among other things their purpose is to balance the ‘competing concerns’ of:
  • financial sustainability on the part of broadcasters, and
  • increased public access to national sporting events.

 

Sugar industry master plan

• The South African Sugar Association and it members have been granted a conditional exemption from certain provisions in Chapter Two of the 1998 Competition Act (prohibited practices). The exemption:
  • ‘can be used as an instrument for transformation and … opening … the sugar industry to previously disadvantaged individuals, particularly small-scale sugarcane growers’ (as outlined in the industry master plan)
  • allows stakeholders to share certain information on:
    • producer price restraint
    • small-scale grower retention and support
    • managed industry restructuring, and
    • Southern African Customs Union market ‘harmonisation’, and
  • is valid until 31 June 2021.

 

Money laundering and terrorist financing counter measures

• The Financial Intelligence Centre has called for comment on a draft public compliance communication providing guidance on factors to be considered when determining the risk associated with providing services to clients in other countries.

 

Budget 2021

• National Treasury has called for ‘technical tax proposals’ ‘to be considered for possible inclusion in Annexure C of the 2021 Budget Review’.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby