The Western Cape cabinet and provincial heads of department have received a detailed report at a bosberaad on the nature of a second pandemic expected in the wake of the COVID-19.
Unemployment and poverty
Premier Alan Winde says the hard interventions taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 will lead to a pandemic of unemployment, hunger and increasing levels of poverty, which is as equally serious and potentially deadly as the coronavirus.
Winde says the information received from the provincial head of Police and Strategy, include that the losses in income and employment have hit the poorest people the hardest.
Research shows that the percentage of people who have run out of money for food in the last year has likely increased from 25 to 47 percent.
The NIDS-CRAM survey estimates that 3 million people lost their jobs between February and April and women accounted for two-thirds of this total.
The number of children going hungry over the past week is expected to nearly double to more than 15 percent nationally.
In the Western Cape, employment is expected to drop by 8.4 percent this year.
Tourism sector
The tourism sector alone is expected to lose more than 100 000 jobs which is 60% of the sector.
Countrywide, according to Tourism Recovery South Africa – more than one million jobs are in jeopardy in the sector and more than 600 000 people are currently facing retrenchment.
Many hotels, lodges and B&B’s in the country are on the brink of closure.
The extended lockdown, now into its fifth month, has been hard on the travel and Tourism sector. The restrictions on interprovincial travel has dented recovery plans. This has been exacerbated by the continued closure of the country’s borders as a result of the deadly coronavirus that’s already claimed more than 10 000 lives in South Africa. It’s meant no revenue for the sector from international travellers.
Hotel and lodge owners have turned to the insurance industry for some relief but they’re finding that claims they consider to be legitimate, are being declined. They say, this is despite them meeting the relevant criteria for such payouts.
Source: SABC News
