- Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said Solidarity and Afriforum gave the department until Tuesday to suspend the Tourism Equity Fund.
- Solidarity and Afriforum have hinted at legal action over the 51% black management criteria for the fund, which they call "racist".
- The minister said broad-based black economic empowerment was never designed to exclude established businesses.
Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane indicated in a statement that she would stick to the criteria of the Tourism Equity Fund, despite threats from Afriforum and Solidarity to challenge the eligibility criteria in court as exclusionary.
The Department of Tourism and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency developed the Tourism Equity Fund initiative to drive transformation through advancing equitable opportunities and inclusive economic growth in the tourism sector.
Tourism businesses have been the hardest hit by restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The fund seeks to provide access to finance for black-owned commercially viable tourism projects to address one of the major challenges to the transformation of the tourism sector.
According to the department, the criteria for eligibility for assistance from the fund include a requirement that the enterprise must be legally registered in South Africa, 100% owned by South African citizens, predominantly black managed and controlled by at least 51% black individuals.
Solidarity and Afriforum described the criteria as "racist" in a joint statement released on Thursday where the two groups said the government was destroying white-owned tourism businesses by prohibiting almost everyone from conducting business while the fund only supported black-owned establishments.
In her statement released on Saturday, Kubayi-Ngubane said Solidarity and Afriforum sent the department a letter giving the department until Tuesday to suspend the operationalisation of the Tourism Equity Fund as they found it exclusionary.
"It is not the first time that Solidarity and Afriforum have brought legal action against the Department in an attempt to stifle transformation. Last year, these two organisations lost numerous court bids to challenge the implementation of the Covid-19 Tourism Relief Fund," Kubayi-Ngubane said.
Kubayi-Ngubane said broad-based black economic empowerment was never designed to exclude established businesses or South Africans but to level the playing field in the economy.
Her statement referred to Solidarity and Afriforum's conduct as an "obstruction of transformation" and "unfortunate".
"As government, we remain steadfast in our commitment to advancing the transformation agenda through creating equitable opportunities, as we strive to create an inclusive and revived tourism economy as part of our country's economic reconstruction and recovery plan," Kubayi-Ngubane said.
She said the government remained confident that the Tourism Equity Fund would go a long way towards crowding in investments in the tourism sector and the diversification of tourist attractions in South Africa.