The government has launched an online portal for businesses hit by the riots and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng to report their losses.
National Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat told the Money Show on Tuesday that the government does not “have a real, comprehensive picture of the number of businesses in the different areas that have been affected”.
Momoniat said the information collected via the portal would enable the government to determine how to improve the current support mechanisms.
At the end of July, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government would provide support to uninsured medium and small businesses that had been devastated by the unrest. He also said the government would ensure that Sasria was able to honour “all of its obligations”.
“The registration portal will collect data from affected businesses to better co-ordinate these relief measures, as well as to inform future interventions. It will provide a single governmental entry point for businesses to indicate the extent of losses they have suffered, and to access available facilities,” National Treasury said in a statement on Monday.
The portal can be accessed at https://www.relief4sa.co.za/ or using the QR code below.
Business owners who experience problems accessing the portal can phone the call centre on 080 006 0085 (toll-free). The call centre’s operating hours are 8am to 5pm weekdays (excluding public holidays).
The portal is solely for business to register damage to physical property and loss of stock incurred in unrest-affected areas between 9 and 19 July. “The portal is for data-collection purposes only,” a message on the website reads.
The portal does not require the uploading of documents or images.
The portal and call centre will remain open for affected businesses to register until 5pm on Thursday, 30 September.
“Data collected through the portal will be kept secure and will only be used to improve the delivery of support measures being administered through various national and provincial government entities,” Treasury said.
