The Department of Small Business Development has introduced a “SME Support Intervention” which involves a Debt Relief Fund and a Business Growth/Resilience Facility to mitigate the impact of the expected economic slowdown on SMMEs in South Africa.

The Department has also made over R500,000,000 available to the Debt Relief Fund, and the SMME Finance Scheme will comprise of soft-loan funding for a period of 6 months from 1 April 2020.

The Business Growth/Resilience Facility will provide working capital, stock, bridging finance, order finance and equipment finance to small businesses which supply in-demand medical supplies.

Furthermore, the Department of Tourism has made an additional R200,000,000 available to assist SMMEs in the hospitality and tourism sector.

In order to qualify for the SME Support Intervention relief, there is a certain criteria which includes, inter alia, that:

• the business must have been registered with CIPC by at least 28 February 2020;
• the business must be 100% owned by South African Citizens;
• employees must be 70% South Africans;
• priority will be given to businesses owned by Women, Youth and People with Disabilities; and
• the business must be registered and compliant with SARS and the UIF.