South Africa’s COVID-19 Rescue Package Scorecard

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) evaluates South Africa's R500 billion COVID-19 rescue package, concluding that the government's support measures have largely failed due to poor uptake, bureaucratic hurdles, and insufficient funding. The report highlights significant underspending, with an estimated R375 billion remaining unspent by June 2020. Key failures include the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS), which reached only 8% of employers, and the Social Relief of Distress Grant, where only 1.2 million of 6.2 million applicants had been paid by June 18, 2020. Business support, including tax deferrals and the Credit Guarantee Scheme, suffered from low uptake and stringent eligibility criteria. Health and municipal support were described as patchy or underspent, with critical gaps in ICU bed capacity and water infrastructure in informal settlements.

• The R500 billion rescue package was severely underspent by June 2020, with an estimated R375 billion remaining unspent.
• The Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) failed to reach the vast majority of businesses, with only approximately 8% of the 2.4 million employers having been paid as of June 19, 2020.
• Implementation of the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant was highly inefficient; by June 18, 2020, only 1.2 million of 6.2 million applicants had received payments.
• Business tax deferral programs saw very low engagement, with a Stats SA April survey indicating that only 4.25% of business-owning respondents utilized the programs.
• The Credit Guarantee Scheme experienced extremely low uptake, with total loans extended estimated between R300 million and R6 billion.
• Health support was insufficient to meet anticipated needs, with ICU bed capacity at 3,300 while deaths were projected to exceed 48,000 by November 2020.
• Municipal assistance for water and sanitation was underspent and failed to adequately serve rural, informal, and low-income areas.
• Small-scale support schemes were hampered by stringent requirements; for example, the Spaza Support Scheme approved only 88 out of at least 130,000 traders in late April 2020.

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} }