Leading from the front
Leading from the front, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week that he and the entire cabinet would donate a third of their salaries to the fund over the next three months. This will add R13.4 million to the R2.2 billion already collected by the fund. The fund’s first R1 billion has been allocated to health initiatives including the bulk purchase of medical masks.
And, others are following the lead of the President. All members the Economic Freedom Fighters, including counsellors, will donate a third of their salaries to the fund. And the chancellor of Rhodes University will donate a third of his salary to Solidarity for the next three months.
Mary Oppenheimer and daughters donated R1 billion to the fund at the beginning of the month and Dischem donated R2.2 million. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange will donate all fees earned for trades made on the 15th and 16th of April to the fund.
While not all are donating to the fund, executive boards across a number of South African organisations have cut their salaries by between 25% and 30% to assist their staff or to help the organisations to survive the economic fallout of the lockdown.