On 17, August 2020 Minister Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa, announced 2nd Wave COVID – 19 Relief application process as a form of assistance to artists, athletes, technical personnel, fitness instructors / practitioners and the core ecosystem with the objective of softening the economic impact sparked by the COVID – 19 Pandemic.
In facilitating this process, the Department of Sport Arts and Culture in collaboration with both Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and the National Arts Council (NAC) committed to reaching the wider sectoral audience by using both BASA and NAC platforms as another facilitation process where prospective applicants can submit their requests for relief. The Department also engaged and appealed to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, the Federations and other sport and recreation bodies to reach out to sports persons to apply for the Relief.
Initially submission of applications for relief deadline was set for the 31 August 2020 and 2nd September respectively. It was then extended for the 9th September 2020 only to those who didn’t complete loading their on – line applications to finalise their application process.
In light of the application process challenges that are still precipitating, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa in consultation with both Business and Arts, South Africa (BASA) and National Arts Council (NAC) has therefore deemed fit to further extend the submission of Relief applications process to Friday, 11th September 2020.The Department is once more making that call to all prospective relief applicants to take note of the window period and urgently submit their applications for processing and also call upon those who are still to finalise the status of their applications to take advantage of the extension and urgently submit.
The Department further makes another appeal to those who are still battling with satisfying the tax mandatory requirement to urgently check their Tax Registration Status by consulting the South African Revenue Services (SARS) for assistance. Note that in the initial Department discussions with SARS in light of this mandatory requirement, SARS has outlined that all those battling potential applicants can urgently register as Tax Payers on the link beneath and they will be informed of their status or their tax numbers be made available within 24 hrs of submitting their applications.
To get the required Tax document or register as Tax Payer potential applicants should visit;
https://www.sars.gov.za/ClientSegments/Individuals/TCS/Pages/How-to-request-your-TCS.aspx
The applicants would then be able to provide Proof of Tax registration enabling them to submit their applications.
All Sectoral prospective applicants who have commenced with their application process and left it incomplete, can still visit the following platforms and finalise their application process (i.e.):
- National Arts Council (NAC) website https://nac.praxisgms.co.za/default.aspx
- What’s up applications on 087 153 1027 under the control of Business and Arts, South Africa (BASA)
As a reminder, the second wave relief caters for the following individuals:
- South Africans working in the sport, arts, culture and heritage sectors
- Individuals who belong in the sector and do not have a regular / consistent salary source,
- These individuals rely solely on their creative work as a source of income
- Their earnings must have been interrupted or impacted upon by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Applicants were not beneficiaries of the first relief.
For applicants COVID – 19 financial relief requests to be successful, the following mandatory documents must accompany all applications:
- Certified copy of South African identity document (ID) with date of certification not older than three months;
- Valid proof of bank account;
- Detailed bank statement showing income earned within the creative sector during the period of 12 months (March 2019 – February 2020),
- letter from industry body confirming that you are a sectoral practitioner / summary of your profile / portfolio work / copy of your academic achievement,
- Valid tax clearance certificate or tax number.
Note that sport applications for relief has been equally extended and all prospective applicants should urgently submit their application to the below mentioned email link or address:
www.srsa.gov.za/media/covid-19-sport-relief-funds-2nd-wave and closing date as well is equally 11th September 2020 and only athletes, coaches, technical support personnel, fitness instructors or practitioners who didn’t benefit from the first wave are eligible to apply.
In relation to the sport relief application, the following mandatory documentation must accompany all applications:
- Certified copy of your South African Identity Document not older than 3 months,
- Bank stamped proof of valid bank account, minimum three months detailed bank statements showing income earned from sport competitions, events, activities and fitness instructor / practitioner services rendered between March 2019 – February 2020 / signed and dated letter from your federation or organization confirming your sporting activities,
NB: If the prospective applicant is a fitness instructor / practitioner, letter (signed and dated) from an institution or organization that one has been providing health and fitness work to date and tax clearance certificate or valid tax number. All sport applicants who are experiencing challenges in getting their tax compliance documents, they must equally visit the above-mentioned SARS link and submit their tax clearance certificate requests.
To get more information about the application process, which documents and links to utilize, contact the following Number 0800 724 278 or visit the following sites for more information:
- Sport specific enquiries to: sportreliefenquiries@dsac.gov.za System / technical related enquiries may be sent to noogH@dsac.gov.za
- Dsacrelief@nac.org.za / Dac.gov.za / www.basa.org.za / www.nac.org.za
All available systems will be accepting applications and outstanding documents until Friday, 11th September 2020 at 23h59:59 thereafter, the system will then cease to accept applications.
