1. General Regulations during Lockdown Level 4:
The Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (“DCGTA”) has released the latest regulations in relation to the Level 4 on the evening of 29 April 2020.
The Regulations can be found
HERE (Note this document is 19.11MB).
Some key information to take note of:
- Table 1 of the above document sets out the level of operation allowed per industry sector;
- All industries, businesses, entities, both private and public, who are permitted to operate during Lockdown Level 4 must develop a plan, which corresponds with Annexure E of the above document. The plan must be retained for inspection. The plan must contain details such as which employees are permitted to work; how the phase-in approach will work for the business; what the health protocols are and the details of the designated COVID-19 Compliance Officer.
- A person must wear and face mask or a homemade item that covers the nose and mouth when in a public place;
- Every business premises must determine their floor square meters and based on that determine the number of customers and employees that may be inside the premises at any given time;
- Every business must provide hand sanitizer (minimum 70% alcohol) to its customers and employees at the entrance of the premises;
- People may walk, run or cycle between 06H00 and 09H00 within a 5 KM radius of their place of residence;
- No person, other than essential workers, are allowed to leave their premises between 20H00 and 05H00 daily;
- Children can be moved within strict rules (refer section 17 of the above document);
- Funerals can be attended within strict rules (refer section 18 of the above document);
- Cargo can be transported within strict rules (refer section 22 of the above document);
- Sale or distribution of alcohol products or tobacco products are prohibited; and
- Any person who is in contravention of the regulations is liable for a fine or imprisonment of up to a maximum of 6 months.
2. Employer requirements for Health and Safety during Lockdown Level 4:
The Department of Labour and Employment (“DLE”) has released the latest regulations in relation to the COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Workplaces.
The Regulations can be found
HERE (Note this document is 3MB).
Some key information to take note of:
- Relaxed regulations apply for employers who employ less than 10 people;
- Stricter regulations together with additional requirements apply for employers who employ more than 500 people (such as requiring that the employer must submit a risk assessment and COVID-19 policy document to the DLE);
- Employees must practice social distancing and cannot be within 1.5 meters of each other (if this cannot be avoided then physical barriers must be placed between employees);
- The employer must make available to each employee 2 masks, which meet the government’s guidelines for masks;
- The employer is responsible for the washing, drying and ironing of the masks;
- Symptom screening must be completed when the employee enters the building of the employer;
- Disinfectant must be applied to surfaces during the morning, afternoon and night;
- Hand sanitizer must be available to employees at the workplace, which consists of no less than 70% alcohol; and
- Only paper towels are allowed to dry hands in the bathrooms (no towels);
3. Are New Essential Service Certificates required on 1 May 2020?
The Department of Trade and Industry (“DTI”) has not communicated whether or not companies, which were previously required to register through the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission's (“CIPC”) BizPortal to perform essential services during the lockdown period, will be required to register for new Essential Service Certificates (“Certificates”) to continue operations. This is very worrying and has already resulted in confusion.
We urge our client base to monitor the following website
HERE for an update from the DTI or Minister Ebrahim Patel in this regard.
Should new certificates be required, companies can register for the new certificates
HERE.
We remind our clients, that only companies and close corporations can apply online for certificates. For sole proprietorships or partnerships, no specific process has been made available. We advise those clients to rather provide a sworn affidavit at the nearest police station stating that the business is an essential service provider, but that it cannot obtain a certificate as it is not registered in terms of the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008, as amended.
4. Are New Employee Permits required during Level 4?
In accordance with section 16(2)(b), a person may only leave their place of residence to go to work where a permit, which corresponds with Form 2 of Annexure A, has been issued by the employer to the employee.
We have made available a Word document for our clients to use as template* - Refer
HERE.
*Note – Our template meets all the requirements per Form 2 of Annexure A of the regulations published on 29 April 2020. Moore SA takes no responsibility for the use of this form in any way or form.
Should the employer have issued permits previously, it would seem that new permits would be required although we have compared the new permit to the previous permit and noted only very subtle and limited differences.
Author: Mark Hewitt from Moore Cape Town’s specialist Tax and Advisory Department