KAROO NEWS - Lockdown has proved stressful for non-essential businesses forced to close, with serious financial impact on both business owners and their employees.
The Advertiser spoke to several people affected by this, on both sides, to see how they were coping. All asked to remain anonymous.
Some of the most badly affected seem to be those who work in restaurants, who rely heavily on tips. One waitress at an upmarket restaurant in Graaff-Reinet said she has been placed on unpaid leave, and now has no income at all.
"I cannot feed my family on the child grants alone, how are we supposed to pay bills?" she asked, close to tears.
A coffee shop owner told his employees that they would have received full salaries for April if they had been able to reopen on 17 April, however as the lockdown has been extended, he will only be able to pay staff half their normal salaries.
The hospitality sector has been particularly badly affected by losing trade during the holiday period.
Even before lockdown, all bookings at a local guesthouse were cancelled, and refunds were paid to guests who no longer wanted to travel. "I have had to let my staff go, and may not even be able to reopen," the guesthouse owner said in despair.
The owner of a busy takeaway business in Graaff-Reinet is doing the best she can for her loyal staff, as she knows they have bills to pay. She has applied for all possible government assistance, including loans, to help survive the crisis.
"The loans will have to be paid back by the business, but I value my employees and will do all I can to help them," she said.
Many businesses have asked their employees to take their annual paid leave during this time. If they have already used up their leave, they are entitled to claim UIF, up to a maximum of R3 500 per month.
The owner of a local hardware store plans to pay his 18 employees in full, and if they have no leave available, they can borrow from their 1,5 extra days off a month. "If lockdown continues into May and June, we will pay them half their Christmas bonus for those months," he said.
One prominent local businessman, involved in a number of businesses forced to close, finds the government's position unclear. "On the one hand, labour legislation allows the employer (with mutual agreement) to determine when leave should be taken by the employee, but then the labour minister last week contradicted this."
His companies' position is that their staff may elect either to take unpaid leave and claim UIF, or use their annual leave, and be paid.
Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Group Editors (publications and online platforms) is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
'We bring you the latest Karoo news'
