South Africa’s COVID-19 Rescue Package Scorecard

This fact sheet by the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) evaluates the R500 billion COVID-19 rescue package announced by President Ramaphosa on 21 April 2020. The IEJ concludes that the government's support measures have failed, citing poor implementation, bureaucratic hurdles, and significant underspending, with an estimate that only around a quarter of the total package had been spent by June 2020.

• The overall implementation of the R500 billion rescue package is deemed a failure, with the IEJ estimating that approximately R375 billion remained unspent as of June 2020.
• The Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) has seen low uptake and inefficient distribution; by 19 June 2020, only 8% of employers had been paid, and 60% of the disbursed R24 billion benefited only 23% of workers.
• Social assistance implementation has been poor, with only 1.2 million of 6.2 million applicants for the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant paid as of 18 June 2020. Additionally, the Child Support Grant increase was limited to caregivers rather than per child, which the IEJ claims left an additional 2 million people below the food poverty line.
• Tax relief measures for businesses with turnovers under R100 million have seen very low uptake, with a Stats SA April survey indicating that only 4.25% of business-owning respondents used the programs.
• Health support efforts are hampered by laboratory backlogs and insufficient capacity; as of 19 June 2020, only 2.3% of the population (1,328,060 tests) had been tested, and ICU bed capacity stood at 3,300.
• The Credit Guarantee Scheme has experienced extremely low uptake, with total loans estimated between R300 million and R6 billion, partly due to a three-week delay between the announcement and finalization.
• Small-scale support schemes have struggled: the Spaza Support Scheme approved only 88 out of at least 130,000 traders by late April 2020, and the Agricultural Disaster Support Fund spent just over R500 million of its R1.2 billion allocation, approving 15,036 of 55,155 applications.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2020). South Africa’s COVID-19 Rescue Package Scorecard. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IEJ-COVID-19-fact-sheet-2-%E2%80%93-rescue-scorecard-1.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. South Africa’s COVID-19 Rescue Package Scorecard. 2020. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IEJ-COVID-19-fact-sheet-2-%E2%80%93-rescue-scorecard-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=South Africa’s COVID-19 Rescue Package Scorecard |date=24 June 2020 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IEJ-COVID-19-fact-sheet-2-%E2%80%93-rescue-scorecard-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2020south, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{South Africa’s COVID-19 Rescue Package Scorecard}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IEJ-COVID-19-fact-sheet-2-%E2%80%93-rescue-scorecard-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }