Johannesburg - The Solidarity Fund, which was created by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, continues to receive a stream of donations towards dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fund was launched on March 23 last year, days before the country was put into a lockdown to try and curb the rise in Covid-19 cases.
Ramaphosa said it was meant to provide a cushion for the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government provided seed capital of R150 million towards the fund. It was then open for donations from business, civil society organisations and individuals.
The board members of the Solidarity Fund held the first-quarter briefing on Thursday outlining how much the fund has received and spent towards social assistance and the country's efforts of procuring vaccine.
Solidarity Fund CEO Tandi Nzimande explained that the fund had received pledges of R3.22 billion – with many of the pledges stemming from political parties, the private sector, foundations and international partners. Generous individuals have also made pledges.
Nzimande explained that of the total donations received, R2.76 billion had been allocated to the fund's three pillars which include health and social assistance.
“Donations continue to come in from a variety of donors, with donations received having grown by R146m in the last 6 months. This was largely attributed to the UK Government donation of R81m," Nzimande said.
The fund expects donations to continue with an average of R1m expected to be deposited into the fund's accounts each month.
Some of the funds have been used to supply food parcels and vouchers - with between R117 and R87m spent. Gender-based violence centres have also been able to benefit from personal protection equipment of R19m. Nzimande said over 300 community-based shelters had applied to receive funds and about R66m will be allocated for the organisations.
Nicola Galombik, the head of the fund's disbursement and deployment, said the fund became involved in assisting towards the country's vaccination drive late in 2020 when the department of health approached seeking assistance towards funding for Covax.
Covaxx is the World Health Organization's scheme that pulls in funds from different countries to centralise the distribution of vaccines and their procurement. The Solidarity Fund provided R283m towards the country's deposit to Covax.
Galombik explained that the department of health was solely responsible for the vaccine programme. The Solidarity Fund would assist where it could.
“While we stand to help, there are certain areas that will remain the sole domain of the department of health. The fund will never get involved with vaccine allocation decisions and selection of vaccines or manufacturers and we will also not directly select logistics or goods suppliers," she explained.
Political Bureau