A race-neutral response by the tourism department could have the effect of deepening faultlines in society, Judge Jody Kollapen ruled.
Government’s Tourism Relief Fund, which was put on ice pending the finalisation of a high court challenge by AfriForum and Solidarity over “the use of race as a benchmark for the awarding of Covid-19 relief”, will now be able to go ahead.
The fund was established to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry and to provide emergency funding of up to R50,000 for small, micro and medium-sized tourism businesses. The department maintained that the fund would be guided by the Tourism Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice and administered in line with the objectives of economic transformation. The minister also said that the application of B-BBEE codes of good practice was mandatory, The Citizen reported.
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