Kubayi-Ngubane Tables Tourism Budget Vote
Written by Mfundo on 19 May, 2021
By: Zilungile Mkhize
Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, says the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector, has brought into sharp focus the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
The minister has delivered her department’s budget speech, in Parliament.
She says the road to recovery for the tourism sector has been a rocky one, characterised by stops and starts in accordance with the waves of the pandemic.
Kubayi-Ngubane says this is the reason why the sector is one of the critical intervention areas that have been identified in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
To support small enterprises, the Department has allocated R200 million for the Tourism Relief Fund which paid 4000 enterprises an amount of R50 000 each.
She says although the scheme was unsuccessfully challenged by AfriForum and Solidarity as racially exclusive, they received heartening feedback from beneficiaries, both Black and White.