Germany has given South Africa a €5m (about R96-million) relief grant to help feed families in Cape Town that have been hit hardest by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The grant is given on condition that at least 20% of it benefits foreigners.
The funds are in the form of digital food vouchers worth about R600 per month for a period of three months. Cellphone-based flash vouchers would be transferred electronically to recipients. The deal stipulates that half the spaza shops where digital vouchers are spent, must be owned by foreigners.
The deal was signed at a meeting between German ambassador Martin Schäfer and Cape Town mayor Dan Plato.
Families and single parents with children under the age of seven are the main targets for the grant, as well as foreign families who do not qualify to receive government support grants. It is estimated that 25 000 families and pregnant women will be supported by this grant.
Soup kitchens in targetted areas like the Khayelitsha suburbs of Harare, Monwabisi Park and Kuyasa, Hanover Park, Manenberg, Gugulethu, Nyanga and possibly Bonteheuwel will also receive vouchers for the three-month period.
This forms part of a years-long relationship between the German Development Bank and the Cape Town mayoral committee. The bank has pumped €15.5m into Khayelitsha since 2007.
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