The Unemployment Insurance Fund said on Wednesday that the allocated National Disaster Benefit Fund would only pay workers whose salaries had been docked until the end of the lockdown.
The UIF has received about 22,000 claims through its COVID-19 email address so far. But that number will rise, as more companies cut employee salaries to survive.
The UIF said that out of the R30 billion available for payouts this financial year, R10 billion had been allocated to deal with COVID-19 lockdown cases.
Spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi said: “So the COVID-19 benefit is applicable for the 21 days of lockdown, so basically we’ll be paying salaries of those people who are going to be affected by the lockdown for this period
He said that they would only cover the shortfall for salaries until next Thursday when the lockdown ended unless it was extended.
This means that employees whose entire April salaries have been docked will have to apply from the general unemployment fund.
The UIF said that companies who had effected pay cuts must approach the UIF for assistance as soon as possible so that workers can receive their payouts this month.
For official information about COVID-19 from the Department of Health, please click here.