National Treasury has reiterated that the government will ensure that Sasria can meet its claims obligations.
Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat told the Money Show on Tuesday: “Right from the start, the president himself came out with a statement to say that government will stand behind Sasria. As government, we mean what we’ve said; we will stand behind them. We realised that they’d probably exceed their resources in trying to assist companies, and we didn’t want that to be a constraint … As government, we mean what we’ve said: we will stand behind them… We allocated R3.9 billion more, and there’s no doubt there’s going to need more if you just go by what CEO [Cedric] Masondo has been saying … As and when they require more assistance, government has committed to providing [that] …”
Meanwhile, public loss adjuster Insurance Claims Africa (ICA) has called on Sasria urgently to pay riot-related claimants 30% of their insured sum upfront, to assist cash-strapped businesses get back on their feet as quickly as possible and prevent retrenchments.
ICA is acting for a number of claimants who constitute a substantial proportion of claims submitted to SASRIA following the recent riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
“Sasria has authorised insurers to pay claims up to R1 million, and some of these claims are being paid out. But it’s not enough, it’s not quick enough, and it’s prejudicing the larger claimants, many of whom run massive retail, manufacturing and food production businesses which urgently need substantial injections of cash. In fact, we are quite concerned that without larger, urgent interim payments, it may have an impact on food security in the country, and will certainly impact our fragile economy negatively,” ICA chairperson Mike Gaines said in a statement.
Gaines said that paying 30% of the insured sum as an interim payment was a safe option for Sasria and would not leave it exposed or jeopardise the company’s long-term sustainability, because most claimants were under-, rather than over-, insured.
“Claimants are living in limbo – they are desperate for cash to pay staff, restart their businesses, replenish stock and repair damaged premises. We know from our experience with the Covid-19 business interruption claims that these interim payments made by insurers were a lifesaver for many businesses while they waited for the complex and lengthy claims settlement business to proceed. It’s going to be the same for these riot-related claims.
“We also know that Sasria has approached Treasury to assist with a shortfall in capital needed to meet the estimated R20-to-25 billion in claims, and this too will take some time to resolve. Sasria is a good, well-managed business in whom we have great trust, but they have never had to deal with claims on this scale and complexity before.”
Asked to respond to ICA’s call to expedite payouts, Sasria said it would release an official media statement this week
