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 the implementation of the commitment, the department has worked closely with both Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and the National Arts Council (NAC) using their platforms to receive and process applications for the fund.
Though the process of submitting individual applications for NAC and BASA has closed on the 31 August and 02 September respectively, the department has noted that a number of applicants that logged and registered in both platforms have not fully completed their application process by submitting all required documents. This is especially prevalent in the Arts, Culture and heritage sector applications. The missing supporting documents include certified ID documents either by the South African Police Service or by any duly authorized Commissioner of Oath; statements from the bank which are crucial to process payment etc.
The Department has further observed that there also seems to be challenges experienced by sector practitioners in terms of their Tax Registration Status. Unfortunately, this is a mandatory requirement which the Department cannot eliminate.
After consultation, the South African Revenue Services (SARS), they have advised that, potential applicants can register as Tax Payers in order to secure proof of registration and subsequent to individual filing, a tax standing document will be provided which will warrant applicants suitability for funding, the following link should be used:
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.
In light of the above, the Department takes this opportunity to extend the closing date to Wednesday, 9th September 2020 only for all those prospective applicants who did not finalise the status of their applications, to urgently submit all outstanding documents.
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
- Submission of document for incomplete what’s app applications can only be done through this link https://basaopenagency.formstack.com/forms/dsac_2nd_wave_supp_doc_resub
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.
In light of the information mentioned above, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture takes this opportunity to thank all those that have taken the initiative and submitted their COVID – 19 second wave relief applications. All prospective applicants will therefore be informed in due course on the outcomes of their applications.
To get more information about the application process, which documents and links to utilize, applicants can 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
NB: No new applications will be accepted on any of the available systems, only those individuals that have submitted their applications prior the closing date of the 31 August 2020 and 2 September 2020 respectively, will be allowed to submit outstanding documents. The stated systems will be accepting outstanding documents until Wednesday, 09 September 2020 at 23h59:59. The system will automatically shut down and no further submissions will be processed.