Solidarity, AfriForum take tourism relief fund fight to ConCourt
Trade union Solidarity and lobby group AfriForum will take the legal battle over the tourism relief fund to the Constitutional Court.
The two organisations are unhappy about the R200-million relief fund, intended to assist South African tourism companies, saying it’s race-based rules are unconstitutional.
The High Court in Pretoria, however, ruled in favour of Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane and the way the funds are being disbursed.
Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann says they maintain that helping South Africans on the basis of race is bizarre.
“It is scary that there could be constitutional grounds, in a crisis like this, which allows the allocation of emergency funds to take place based on race.”
Meanwhile, AfriForum's Kallie Kriel says all small tourism businesses deserve urgent assistance.
“If the case drags on, countless small white-owned businesses will go under and the government will be complicit. Figuratively, it is economic murder of minorities.”
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The two organisations are unhappy with the department's use of broad-based black economic empowerment scores to determine eligibility for the R200 million in emergency funding. AfriForum argued that, since every business in the tourism sector is adversely affected by the lockdown, they should all qualify for funding regardless of race.