'Perfectly rational' to use B-BBEE levels to distribute R200m relief, says tourism minister

Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Published Apr 29, 2020

Share

Cape Town – Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said it was perfectly rational for her, as a matter of executive policy, to use B-BBEE levels as part of the process to distribute the R200 million Tourism Relief fund.

The minister was responding to AfriForum and Solidarity in their application in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday, in which they asked Judge Jody Kollapen to set aside Kubayi-Ngubane’s decision to provide tourism relief aid to companies which had the highest black economic empowerment rating.

The two parties made their submissions in the court yesterday, in which their lawyers argued that the promulgation of the National Disaster Management Act by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 23 due to the outbreak of Covid-19 did not allow Kubayi-Ngubane to distribute the R200 million Tourism Relief Fund administered by her office along racial lines.

According to Kubayi-Ngubane, it was rational for the government to give tailored consideration to constitutionally mandated transformation goals when “designing polycentric relief measures” like Covid-19.

Judgment was reserved.

IOL

Related Topics: