It has been another busy day with Cabinet briefing the public on the newly gazetted amendments to the COVID-19 Lockdown Regulations (Which you can download here), as well as the UIF-TERS online portal finally going live.

Amended Regulations

We have again provided a combined version of the Lockdown Regulations which includes the latest regulations (Download Here). We furthermore include a summary of the biggest of these amendments, however urge everyone to familiarize themselves with the Regulations as a whole in order to better understand the impact thereof on yourself and your business.

• In terms of the newly added subregulation 11B(9), children will now be allowed to move between co-parents subject to the need for the parent transporting the child to be in possession of the necessary proof (Court Order, Parental Agreement and/or Unabridged Birth Certificate).
• Furthermore, subregulation 11CA now prohibits evictions during the period of the National Lockdown.
• Some of the amendments with a larger impact relate to Mining Operations who may resume mining at 50% capacity with a planned increase as dictated by the Ministry. This right to start operations comes with some caveats, including the requirement that Mining Companies Must provide for Rigorous Screening of Employees who return to work, Qurantine facilities for such Employees, the submission of collected data to relevant authorities as well as making arrangements to secure transportation for Employees from their homes to the area of operations, initially within South Africa and, in accordance with Lockdown and similar regulations of neighbouring countries, from those homes. You can read more under Regulation 11K.
• Hardware, components and supplies to effect emergency repairs to homes, for the provision of essential services and for emergency repairs to the vehicles of persons rendering essential services will now be allowed, however stores will be required to keep records of persons to whom the sale of such supplies are made.
• The definition of Mining as an essential service is no longer limited to Coal Mining, subject to the provisions of regulation 11K.
• Trades related to the necessary provision of emergency repair work (Including Plumbers, Electricians, Locksmiths, Roof Repairers and Automobile Repairs) are classified as essential services.

UIF TERS Online Portal

For the second time Today there has been an update from the DEL as relates to their online portal for UIF TERS claims going live. We expect traffic to be heave and the site can be reached at: https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19

This information came courtesy of another submission to the TERS fund in an autoreply reading as follows [Formatting and errors as per original email]:

Dear Employer

Kindly note that the UIF have developed an on -line portal to lodge claims under the COVID19 Temporary Relief Scheme

Please use Easy Aid and On – Line document attached to assist yourself through the process.

Employee details template is also attached with the guideline document to assist employers who want to attach a CSV FILE instead of capturing employee details on the on -line platform.

Unemployment Insurance Commissioner

The email was accompanied by the following attachments:

• Copy of National_Disaster_Payment-Excel_Template.xlsx
• Easy Guide 1.docx
• Guidelines-To_Convert_Excel_TO_CSV_V2.docx
• On – line guide document.pdf

The online system makes the submission process alot simpler and required documents can be uploaded directly, including the CSV file if you have already completed same in terms of our previous update in this regard (Accessible Here for Convenience).

We remain available to all of our clients and can be directly contacted at any time for assistance and guidance.

Eben van Deventer          082 412 2845     eben@hrcity.co.za

AJ van Niekerk                  079 890 4411     aj@hrcity.co.za

Elri de Bruin                       082 753 5695     elri@hrcity.co.za

Conrad Luus                      072 624 3410     conrad@hrcity.co.za

We will continue to post updates on developments as they become known to us during this time.

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