Update by James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities

Support for Business 

The world has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 global pandemic with severe economic impact, causing many businesses to have had sudden reductions in their incomes.

I am happy to announce that the City of Cape Town as part of relief measures implemented for commercial property owners (and ordinary residential property owners) there are payment arrangement options now available. According to the Finance Directorate of the Municipality these payment arrangement plans will assist property owners to pay off rates over an agreed number of months. No interest will be charged, or debt management actions taken for the duration of the arrangement, provided it is honoured. Each application will be assessed on its own merits. Apply for help via email (during lockdown): COVID19.Relief@capetown.gov.za or SMS to 48043. Please submit proof via email.

What’s more to help businesses and individuals to understand the support they can access from government and other institutions, together with our partners in the Province, Wesgro and GreenCape, we established a tool called the COVID-19 Support Finder. The Fund Finder tool and the www.supportbusiness.co.za website provides an overview of a large number of available funding and relief measures.

The team is working around the clock to provide the most up to date information possible; and the tool is simply here to help link companies and individuals to funding options provided by other institutions.

We also set up a very useful information portal linked with the City’s Department of Enterprise and Investment at www.investcapetown.com to assist business and industry with all the latest news and links to sites. We aim to provide business clarity and sector support initiatives, including contents on the investment incentives and facilitation services offered by the City of Cape Town.

The team at The Business Hub, an initiative from the City to support SMMEs and entrepreneurs, can also provide assistance and information by sending queries via email to business.support@capetown.gov.za or supportbusiness@wesgro.co.za

Please feel free to contact us through the websites and emails provided and share this information with your business networks.

We will continue to engage with the various business sectors to get their input, understand their challenges so that we can provide the most suitable and effective assistance during this time and post-Covid-19.

In order to co-ordinate and streamline the City’s economic response, we established two task teams, one on tourism and the other on the economy. During this period, much work has been done on proactive proposals to assist businesses and key industries on stabilisation, adaptation and recovery plans.

I look forward to sharing some of these plans in the coming weeks.

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