Extended lockdown could place additional strain on small businesses
Ward 66 chairperson of the war room small business development, Charles Leaven, said that small businesses in the area were already suffering before the additional two weeks to the lockdown.
AN EXTRA 14 days have been added to the lockdown, tallying a five-week stay-at-home period in the country. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement on Thursday evening, 9 April, two weeks into the initial lockdown.
Ward 66 chairperson of the small business development war room committee portfolio, Charles Leaven, said that small businesses in the area were already suffering before the additional two weeks to the lockdown.
He said that these businesses are a backbone in the community and create employment.
“How are people going to survive and feed their children when small businesses are forced into economic submission?”
“Their hands are cuffed by their rental commitments and other debit orders. Where are they going to get the money to continue paying staff? They have, in most cases, absolutely no revenue coming in. The sums just don’t make sense,” he said.
Leaven added that the president needed to make peace with tanking an already fragile and unstable economy.
“Recovery may take a long time and serious thought needs to be given to how we can become operational again. There are many people in our community who have no-work no-pay jobs and are really feeling the brunt economically,” he added.
He noted that an essential service at the heart of the Bluff, Oxford Freshmarket, was playing its part in maintaining social distancing with its shoppers and that other businesses could follow suit while still maintaining safety measures.
“The laws aren’t very clear on the operating hours of essential services and what items are considered essential. Since the lockdown has been extended, interest rates need to be slashed, debit orders for all financial products and services be suspended temporarily with tax breaks as well as a reduction in rates and utility costs.
“Mortgages and rent need to be put on hold until people are earning again to pay for them. These are all fixed costs that have to be paid and are crushing businesses and individuals because they simply don’t have the income to sustain these costs.”
“To start the economy again, I think some sort of stimulus package needs to be put in place that would not terribly affect our inflation rate, this may help get money circulating in the economy again so that people can get back to work,” said Leaven.
The declaration of the national state of disaster and the institution of a nation-wide lockdown, according to the president, was correct and timely.
He said from 1 170 confirmed cases on March 27, the number of cases now stood 1 930 at the time, as compared to two weeks before the lockdown, where the average daily increase in new cases was around 42%, dropping to around 4%.
“I am keenly aware of the impact this will have on our economy. But I know, as you do, that unless we take these difficult measures now, unless we hold to this course for a little longer, the coronavirus pandemic will engulf, and ultimately consume, our country.
“We all want the economy to come back to life, we want people to return to work, we want our children to go back to school, and we all want to be able to move freely again. But our immediate priority must remain to slow down the spread of the virus and to prevent a massive loss of life,” he said.
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