There's too much that's been made about this requirement that the new Covid-19 Tourism Relief Fund that the Department of Tourism has launched the to assist businesses in the tourism sector that have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Here's the story
The R200 million Tourism Relief Fund provides once-off capped grant assistance to Small Micro and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMMEs) to ensure sustainability during and post the implementation of government measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 in South Africa, she said.
She added that the fund will be administered in line with the objectives of economic transformation and will be guided by the tourism Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) codes of good practices.
There's an outcry (justifiably) and support from the BBC (not a surprise - all they can is moan and not provide much else).
If you are in the tourism industry and turnover less than R5m, and it doesn't matter what level of black ownership you have, if you have any at all, - or at least turned over R5m in a financial year that ended less than 18 months ago then go to the dti's webpage and download this affidavit. Make sure that you write the word Tourism on it and ensure that you put in the turnover as being less than R5m. Take it to the police station to get oathed and DON'T FORGET TO SIGN IT.
This is YOUR BEE CERTIFICATE. Submit it with all the other documentation that they want. You will then be BEE compliance.
And you can laugh at the incompetence that is called a tourism minister who tries to hide her own racial prejudice behind the so-called anti-black bloc. If they would just wake up and realise that everyone is suffering
Simply put, these sections of society still hold the view that the participation of black people in the economy, especially as owners of the means of production, is a negation of entrepreneurship and growth. What might seem like a genuine concern for SMMEs in relation to Tourism Relief Fund from these sections of society is but an expression of opposition to the emergence of black business in the economy.
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