South Africa's non-profit sector, which is playing an important role in providing food and medical assistance to the population, has not qualified for the government's COVID-19 relief package, with many such organizations now struggling to survive, the founder of the Gateway Health Institute, a leading charity organization in the country, has told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2020) South Africa's non-profit sector, which is playing an important role in providing food and medical assistance to the population, has not qualified for the government's COVID-19 relief package, with many such organizations now struggling to survive, the founder of the Gateway Health Institute, a leading charity organization in the country, has told Sputnik in an interview.
Many non-profit organizations (NPOs), including the Gateway Health Institute that donates food to families with children under five, have stepped up efforts to provide humanitarian food packages to people in need amid the pandemic. NPOs, however, have not qualified for state support at the time of the COVID-19 crisis.
"Unfortunately money is a problem. We all rely on donations and support from the government and the government at this stage unfortunately is not supporting NPOs or only supporting a few of them to distribute food. I think one of the main issues now is that the NPO sector was not seen as an essential sector for business support," Dr. Coenie Louw said.
According to the doctor, a petition is now circulating in South Africa to urge the government to include the sector in rescue packages.
"A lot of the small organizations will go out of business because they are not getting any funding. It's an uncertain time, people are not donating as much as they used to ... Is the lockdown going to be around for the next 6 months, is it going to be for the next year? Is coronavirus going to be around? We don't know," the NGO founder added.
To curb the virus, South Africa imposed a lockdown, one of the most stringent in the region, in late March. On Monday, the authorities loosened the restrictions, allowing businesses to reopen and people to go back to work. As of Wednesday, the country, which accounts for most of COVID-19 cases in the region, updated its tally by 1,713 to 37,525. The death toll has reached 792. The record daily increase of 1,837 cases was recorded in late May.
