SCA ruling on Tourism Fund vindicates DA stance

23 September 2021

The DA welcomes the ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) regarding the selection of race-based criteria for payment of government tourism relief funds.  The SCA found that it was unlawful for the then Minister of no Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane to demand that businesses in the tourism sector meet Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) requirements to be considered for government's Covid-19 assistance funding.

Government had introduced a fund in April 2020 to assist the tourism sector during the job-killing hard lockdown period. The R200 million Tourism Relief Fund provided once-off payments worth a maximum of R50 000 but only to businesses that were BBEEE compliant.

Government has been outright insulting towards businesses that did not comply with its arbitrary racist policies.  The pandemic and the government-imposed lockdowns did not and do not differentiate which businesses were affected.  All businesses and jobs were equally affected during this time.

The DA is grateful that the SCA agreed with us that the Disaster Management Act (DMA) have actually nothing to do with each other as they serve completely different purposes and means. The DMA is aimed at preventing or limiting disasters, mitigating their impact and enabling post-disaster recovery.  All people, irrespective of who they are have been affected by this pandemic.

The DA will be monitoring this matter and will be asking questions about future relief for all businesses within the tourism sector, particularly those that could have recovered had it not been for government’s racist stance towards them.

Issued by Manny de Freitas, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism, 23 September 2021