Solidarity Fund receives more than R500m in donations to fight virus

Fund chairperson Gloria Serobe told journalists via a webcast that the fund would galvanise resources and efforts to fight the pandemic.

Serobe said the focus of the fund would not be on more donations, but on making the available resources work appropriately. “We are very encouraged that hardly a week after the fund was put in place we have more than R500m,” Serobe said. “That is a combination of contributions from corporates, government and, most exciting, individuals who have donated their own money.”

She said the fund would prioritise preparing the health system to respond to the coronavirus outbreak and flatten the infection curve.

Nicola Galombik, an executive director of Yellowwoods, who also took part in the webcast conference, said that R100m had been made available to procure additional personal protective equipment, including masks, gloves and protective gowns for health workers.

“We have set aside R50m to source 5 million masks from reputable suppliers in China,” said Galombik, adding that the fund was aware that there were concerns that masks made in China were ineffective.

“We are ensuring that the utmost diligence is exercised in ensuring that the masks that will be purchased will be of the correct standard.”

Galombik said the fund would play an augmentation and catalytic role in giving support to the health system.

“We are making emergency funding available in order to allow the goods to be purchased and made available to the public sector, as procurement systems in the state will likely take longer,” said Galombik.

She said there were discussions on possibly acquiring testing kits and ventilators.

Galombik said the fund would be encouraging and mobilising citizens across the country to “stay at home” during the lock-down and mitigate the spread of the virus.

The fund would also identify and help families that were most vulnerable to deal with the impact of the coronavirus.

President Cyril Ramaphosa last week announced that individuals, businesses and organisations could donate money to the fund to combat the spread of the virus, help the government take care of those who are ill and support those whose lives were disrupted by the coronavirus.

Ramaphosa announced that the Rupert and Oppenheimer families had pledged R1billion each to help small businesses affected by the coronavirus. Billionaire Patrice Motsepe also committed R1bn from his foundation and associated companies at the weekend.

Adrian Enthoven, the fund’s deputy chairperson, said the fund was not in a position to fund or provide soft loans for small, medium and micro-enterprises, particularly non-governmental organisations.

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