Sasria warned in their presentation yesterday, to parliament, that they can’t afford to cover the country’s businesses if there is a repeat of last year’s civil unrest.

This follows the loss they faced last year due to the unrest. Sasria is a short-term insurer that is state-owned, it provides cover to all people and businesses that have assets in South Africa.

Due to all the unrest that took place last year, the company has made projections that show it will make R26 Billion loss after tax if no urgent interventions are made. They also stated that the balance sheet will not be able to accommodate claims of that volume this year.

The newly appointed CEO Mpumelelo Tyikwe has said that their solvency ratio has gone down severely due to the riots and there has been a continued accumulation in claims from business that were affected by the riots.

Sasria is looking to included drought and flooding in their cover after the KZN flooding, these engagements, however, are still in their early stages as they are still having talks with the National Treasury and conducting investigations on how to extend their cover.