Reports began to surface at the end of March 2020, just days into the nationwide lockdown due to the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, of long and congested queues to receive South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) grants. An unprecedented amount of people arrived to claim their grants, with R3.7-billion processed through SASSA and Post Office cards, and another 3.1 million beneficiaries paid through various commercial banks.
Although most of the transactions were processed with very few hitches, long queues, overcrowding and failure to comply with social distancing and hygiene guidelines at certain pay outlets presents a serious challenge when one considers that the majority of social grant recipients are elderly or infirm, and thus at a higher risk for complications arising from contracting COVID-19. Measures have since been put in place to spread out the load on the system for collecting grants, such as releasing certain types of grants earlier in the month than usual – specifically, grants for older and disabled people.
Read more about: Businessman Peet Viljoen Remembering the Poor in the Fight Against COVID-19
However, the fact remains that around each month-end, millions of South Africans are queuing to receive grant money, and this is an opportunity for increased risk of exposure for many.
“Driving past one of the shopping centres where people were queuing to receive their social grants one afternoon, I noticed that many of the people in the queue were not wearing face masks,” says Peet Viljoen, well-known Pretoria philanthropist and CEO of Tammy Taylor Nails South Africa, a leader in the beauty salon industry in South Africa.
“Since before the lockdown even started, my team and I have been driving around Gauteng, donating face masks and hand sanitizer to police officers, army personnel, healthcare workers, children’s homes, animals shelters, security guards, the elderly, retail workers, petrol attendants, and others who cannot afford their own mask, or do not have access to purchasing one. When I saw these long queues, and that most of the people in them were elderly or disabled, I knew we had to donate masks here too.”
Many scientists are of the opinion that being elderly in a developing country makes the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 higher than for the elderly in developed countries. Part of the reason is the capacity of the healthcare systems in developing countries to screen for and treat the coronavirus, with another contributory factor being the likelihood of severe underlying medical conditions. Added to this is limited access to personal protective equipment such as face masks, and the risk spikes even higher.
When the National Disaster was announced in South Africa, Peet immediately repurposed his company’s fully-equipped textile manufacturing and fabric stitching operation from manufacturing uniforms, masks and other clothing items for the beauty industry, to government standard fabric face masks. “I quickly realised that we would soon run out of face masks in South Africa, whether locally made or imported, and that purchasing or manufacturing more could take some time,” he says. “So we got to work crafting a pattern and scaling up our operation, with both retail sales and donations quickly ensuring that the factory was working at maximum capacity.”
The fabric masks are both reversible and washable, and can be disinfected, making them reusable. The outer layer features moisture-wicking fabric that does not trap moisture and offers exceptional breathability.
“Our masks are also water-resistant and tear-resistant, with 500-thread cotton twill on the inner layer, making them comfortable as well as durable,” he explains. “More people wearing masks means less people in our hospitals and already-constrained healthcare facilities. I would challenge every business that has the means to donate protective gear to those less fortunate, and particularly those already reliant on social grants and with very little means to procure their own, to do so without delay, and assist our government in protecting our people against this deadly threat.”
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