{"id":205179,"date":"2020-04-16T09:29:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T07:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/?p=205179"},"modified":"2020-04-16T17:14:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:14:10","slug":"corona-virus-racist-criteria-for-support-from-tourism-relief-fund-leads-to-afriforum-court-action-against-the-department-of-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/corona-virus-racist-criteria-for-support-from-tourism-relief-fund-leads-to-afriforum-court-action-against-the-department-of-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"Corona Virus: \u2018Racist\u2019 criteria for support from Tourism Relief Fund leads to AfriForum court action against the Department of Tourism!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"In following a number of topics related to the Tourism industry, and being a member of the industry as a recently qualified Tourist Guide whose income has ground to a halt, the Tourism Relief Fund offered to the Tourism and Hospitality industry as financial relief during the COVID-19 pandemic is of special interest to me. Earlier this week the Department of Tourism was sent court papers by civil rights organisation AfriForum, for its alleged discrimination based on race in its funding criteria. Industry talk also is that the Fund benefits larger formal tourist companies, and does not provide relief for hundreds of informal freelance operators such as Tourist Guides, the unofficial face of South Africa, in showing international travelers the highlights of our country. <\/p>\n

One of the sources of relief funds for tourist and hospitality businesses affected by the Corona Virus Lockdown, the Tourism Relief Fund, has R200 million to offer in packages capped at R50000 each. Simple mathematics shows\u00a0that only 4000 tourist-related businesses stand a chance to benefit from this Fund, a joke given that Tourism (which includes the restaurant industry and accommodation establishments too) is one of the most prevalent industries in an area such as Cape Town and the Western Cape.<\/span><\/p>\n

TimesLive reported yesterday that AfriForum claims \u2018the tourism department intends to apply \u201cempowerment criteria\u201d when considering pleas for a bailout, and it would be an exercise in aid of transformation.\u00a0But AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel called the race criteria shameful and unlawful, insisting that the discrimination did nothing towards funding those who need it most.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe tourism minister\u2019s stated intention to help only some people and not others, because of the colour of their skin, their age or their gender, makes a mockery of SA\u2019s constitutional democracy,\u201d he said in an affidavit\u2019. \u2018<\/i>Discrimination on the basis of race and other unalterable characteristics is immoral and inexcusable. It is unacceptable that President Cyril Ramaphosa could call for national unity … only for the tourism minister to insist that race and other immutable characteristics would be used as the basis for determining which South Africans would receive government support,\u201d he wrote.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n

AfriForum further claims that the Fund aims to support tourism businesses, rather than individuals employed in the industry.<\/p>\n

In her response to the news reports about AfriForum\u2019s proposed legal action, Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane denied that court papers have been filed, calling the news \u2018fake\u2019, and \u2018slammed AfriForum\u2019s claims and insisted that its court challenge was a publicity stunt\u2019. \u00a0\u2018<\/i><\/span>She defended the transformation agenda of the relief fund, saying it was guided by the tourism broad-based black economic empowerment codes of good practice.<\/span>\u201cOur vision is to ensure sustainable and inclusive tourism development,\u201d she said.\u2019, <\/i>reported TimesLive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Tourism website provides the following information about the Tourism Relief Fund, and its criteria:<\/p>\n

\u2019The Tourism Relief Fund provides once-off capped grant assistance to Small Micro and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMMEs) in the tourism value chain to ensure their sustainability during and post the implementation of government measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 in South Africa.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Capped at R50 000 per entity, grant funding can be utilised to subsidise expenses towards fixed costs, operational costs, supplies and other pressure cost items.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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Guided by the Tourism Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Codes of Good Practices approved by the Minister of Trade and Industries in 2015 (in line with the BBBEE Act No.53 of 2003), the Tourism Relief Fund is administered in line with the objectives of Economic Transformation, and our vision to ensure sustainable and inclusive tourism development.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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Categories eligible to apply for the Tourism Relief Fund include the following:\u200b
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