The eThekwini Municipality handed over R21 million to small businesses as part of its COVID-19 economic recovery fund at an event held at the City Hall, on Monday.

About 100 small businesses each received a R30, 000 cheque. This group of 100 is the first of the 700 successful applicants, to receive funding. The fund was established to bring relief to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Processes to assist the other successful applicants is underway and will be finalised soon.

The beneficiaries are across all sectors including spaza shops, salons, retail and flea markets, catering, construction, cooperatives, and agribusiness.

Gcinokuhle Dube (30) of Loxion Tours, located in Umkhumbane, couldn’t contain his excitement at the cheque handover ceremony.

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An emotional Dube said, “Finally, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. There was a time where I thought it was over for my business as tourism was hard hit by the pandemic. However, this relief fund has provided me with an opportunity to market and reposition my brand without having to take a loan.”

Handing over the cheques to the beneficiaries, eThekwini mayor, Cllr Mxolisi Kaunda, said, “This is a great initiative by the municipality to bring much-needed relief to small businesses that were adversely affected by the pandemic.”

Mayor Kaunda stated that the small business sector made a significant contribution to the gross domestic product.

“This intervention was important as the nationwide lockdown had a devastating impact on businesses in the city. This resulted in the loss of approximately R34 billion across all sectors of the economy. An estimated 6000 companies were forced to close down, resulting in over 300, 000 job losses,” he said.

Kaunda added that eThekwini was the first metro in the country to develop an economic recovery plan to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Mayor Kaunda said R21 million was set aside for the relief package, adding that there are other relief programmes available at the city’s one-stop centre located at Durban Exhibition Centre.