8 minute read
Public Customer Service
PUBLIC CUSTOMER SERVICE
BY JESSIE TAYLOR
TOP PRIORITY:
Service Delivery and Customer Care in SA
Funding Scheme to keep classrooms open for small children
As many of the country’s 32 000 Early Childhood Development centres face an uncertain future, a government fund looks to provide a lifeline until young learners can return to their classrooms. While many sectors were impacted by lockdown regulations in response to the global pandemic, the ECD sector has been particularly hard hit. Many of the businesses in this sector are small and privately owned, often providing services in impoverished areas.
ECD education is vital for healthy childhood development. Not only does it prepare children for primary school, but it also develops the social, emotional, cognitive and physical wellbeing of children. This education provides a foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. However, many families were forced to put this education on hold. Schools were forced to close for parts of the last year, and once opened, many of their learners did not return to the classroom due to concerns over safety or financial constraints due to job losses among parents.
Relief for hard-hit programmes
A relief fund has been established to stimulate the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector, to save jobs and keep business doors open. Payments commenced this month, with thousands of ECD staff expected to receive the once-off funding.
The Department in the process of finalising ECD stimulus employment relief fund payments, after calling on small businesses in the sector – such as crèches, daycare services and nursery schools – to apply for assistance. The ECD stimulus employment relief fund provides a R496-million fund to assist South Africa’s ECD facilities, many of which have taken severe financial strain as a result of the various levels of national lockdown, imposed in response to Covid-19.
The fund is designed to provide a one-off payment of around R4500 to ECD staff members, with four staff members eligible per facility. This includes cooks, administrators and other workers.
However, the funds can only be applied for by the operator of the facility, and only one application can be made per facility. “Following the national call
from the for all Early Childhood Development programmes to apply for the ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund (ECD-ESRF), verification and payments are now being processed for qualifying ECDs,” said Social Development spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant.
A sector buckling under the weight of the pandemic
The relief fund comes not a moment too soon, as the sector finds itself struggling under the effects of the global pandemic. Estimates from the Centre for Early Childhood Development suggest more than half of South Africa’s ECD centres have not been able to reopen, even in level 1 of the lockdown.
A report by Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Fellow Janeli Kotzé and co-authors found that Covid-19 had disrupted the function of ECD programmes and could have far-reaching impacts on children and their families. Four months after the closure of ECD programmes in March 2020, the ECD sector was operating at less than a quarter of its pre-lockdown levels, the report found. And the impact on the learners was equally severe – the number of children attending ECD programmes in July had dropped by almost 20%, compared to levels pre-Covid-19. The report estimated that only 13% of children under the age of six were attending ECD by mid-August.
“When viewed from a broader socio-economic lens, the threat of ECD programme closures across the nation will have impacts beyond ECD operators to the lives of millions of children, millions of households and millions of adults who rely on these ECD services. A swift intervention by the government is necessary to save this important sector and limit the ripple effect of programme closures on multiple layers of society,” said Janeli Kotzé.
Around 28 200 applications have been received by the Department of Social Development, for around 125 407 staff members. Following a verification process, there are around 25 571 applications with 116 102 staff members currently on the system, added Oliphant.
Lumka Oliphant
Department of Social Development spokespersnon
About the ECD Relief Funds Scheme Application Process:
• The application process opened on 5 February and closed on 26 February.
• The Department made the applications process available online through the GovChat application platform. But to accommodate those with connectivity challenges, applications could also be lodged with the department’s local offices.
• Around 28 200 applications have been received by the Department of Social
Development, for around 125 407 staff members.
• As part of the cleaning and removal of duplicate applications amongst others, the number of applications on the system is 25 571 applications with 116 102 staff members.
• At the moment, applicants have been contacted via
SMS as part of the verification process and are urged to update their applications with all the correct details.
• During the verification process common issues that have been picked up are incorrect ID numbers and names of applicants not being as stated in their identity document; incorrect banking information; incorrect addresses and incorrect classification of funding. n
IN OTHER NEWS
BY CHARNDRÉ EMMA KIPPIE
PROPERTY VS. PANDEMIC:
a win-win situation?
Taking a closer look at Covid-19’s impact on our property markets
With the Covid-19 pandemic hitting South Africa at the beginning of 2020, various property economists and key players in the sector made predictions regarding the rapid decline of housing prices. It was forecasted that the situation would be comparable to that of the downfall witnessed throughout the global financial crisis of 2008.
The rate of home purchases in SA was already ‘underwhelming’ pre-Covid. As Covid-19 was an unprecedented knock to our country’s economy, many commercial banks, mortgage originators, and even real estate agents indicated that we could expect the price of homes to further decline by 10%-20%.
Surprisingly, these forecasts turned out to be inaccurate, as the housing market in fact witnessed an unexpected performance. According to Lightstone Property — a provider of information, valuations and market intelligence on properties in South Africa — housing prices increased by an average of 3% for 2020 as a whole. And when one factors in the average consumer price inflation of 3.3% for 2020, these prices only fell by 0.3%.
This was a less devastating outcome than expected, as many of the other sectors of the South African economy took a much greater blow, financially.
Popularising home loans
Commercial banks have now reported a rise in renewed home ownership interest by consumers. South Africa’s largest home loan provider, Standard Bank, reported that they granted new home loans throughout the country at “record levels’’ in the midst of the pandemic. They received 258,000 new applications and granted R56.5-billion in mortgage loans during 2020. This was a 13% increase from 2019.
Many other financial institutions also witnessed an increase in the amount of home loan disbursements once the South African government eased lockdown restrictions - a trend expected to slow down throughout 2021 as banks become more cautious due to employment instability. The easing of these restrictions allowed citizens to
move freely between homes, into new property, and also prompted deeds offices to reopen and track property sales transactions more effectively. Gerhard Kotzé, managing director of the RealNet estate agency group provides comment:
“We are already seeing bond approval numbers drop from the highs of July and August 2020, and fewer grants for 100% home loans. The possibility of largescale retrenchments this year in big private sector companies and the public sector is especially worrying.”
“Nevertheless, we expect price growth and possibly even real (after inflation) price growth in the under-R2m market this year due to steadily tightening inventory constraints, especially at the lower end of this sector”, says Kotzé.
Interest rates drop
South Africa’s property sector has been aided by the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates by 3%. This decision lowered the bank’s prime lending rate to 7%. With this decrease, it became more affordable for existing homeowners to regularly pay off their home loans. In conjunction, the costs of home ownership became cheaper than at the beginning of 2020. Also, factoring in transfer duty (a tax levied on properties valued above R1million), key property industry leaders estimated that these interest rate declines made homeownership 30% cheaper. This prompted an increase in first-time home buyers.
“They [first-time homebuyers] are keen to get an offer to purchase signed and accepted as quickly as possible so that they do not lose out. At the same time, the banks are still keen to lend and first-time buyers can find favourable conditions”, says Seeff Property Group Chair, Samuel Seeff. Although these ‘favourable conditions’ have generated a demand in selling and purchasing activity in the property market, this is likely to change considerably even post-Covid - deemed as the ‘Post-Lockdown Recessionary Phase’.
2020 Property overview - what happened?
Retail sector Retailers in South Africa were faced with the task of curbing the spread of the virus. In some cases, stores closed down permanently due to a lack of sales and crippling rental costs. On the other hand, retailers who opted to continue operations faced restrictions on ‘non-essential services and goods’. Unable to trade during the 21-day lockdown period, South African landlords and retailers experienced many disputes regarding still having to pay store rental fees.
Industrial Sector During the lockdown period, and even thereafter, production rates decreased gradually across South Africa, highering the rate of unemployment and leaving facilities bare. Rental growth, thus, slowed down even further while confidence in local businesses diminished - this put a damper on future developments.
Office space The office market received a total transformation during the pandemic. Businesses witnessed an increase in demand for open plan office environments, hotdesking and serviced offices. This prompted a reduction in the amount of office space allowed per person. Many citizens were forced to work from home due to lockdown. With remote working set to be the new norm, many office buildings have been left unoccupied. n
