The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, broke down the current relief fund stats for the sports and arts industries on Saturday during a media briefing.
“As a department we will continue to do what we can to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus on practitioners in the sport and arts and culture sectors,” he said.
“We committed ourselves to do something to try and soften the impact of Covid-19.”
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On March 25, a R150-million relief fund was announced to assist artists, athletes, technical personnel and the core ecosystem of the sector.
Part of the fund was opened for livestreaming the work of creatives and athletes, particularly intergenerational cooperation between younger artists and the legends.
All provinces have since announced their provincial relief funds to assist athletes and artists at that level.
“These funds amount to more than R50-m combined.
“We thank them for their commitment in serving the sector,” he said.
Combined, the relief funds made available to the sector total over R200-m.
“We have agreed with the MECs in the consultative meetings we’ve held that if a person receives funds from one level, he or she may not be assisted again at another level.
“This means if you get financial assistance from the National Relief Fund, the province will then be exempted from providing you with financial assistance and vice versa,” Mthethwa said.
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The Minister said teams of independent adjudicators have been working tirelessly “to ensure that as many people as possible receive relief during this time”.
- Sport adjudication process:
“The sport adjudication panel was the first to be appointed on April 9, the first to begin adjudicating, as well as the first to complete the process,” Mthethwa said.
The total number of sport applications received thus far is 470 and 296 of these applicants were approved and 174 declined.
“A total of 26 appeals have been received and the Appeals Committee has sat this week to review those 26 appeals, 10 were successful and three were rejected,” he said.
He added that two successful applicants appealed, but were rejected as they had already received funding.
“The remaining 11 appellants still have information outstanding,” he said.
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- Arts and culture:
The arts and culture adjudication process was not without its glitches.
“We have rectified those and have made significant progress.
“The original number of successful applicants was 1 250, but the high number of those rejected compelled us to set up an appeals process,” Mthethwa said.
As a result, the number of successful applicants increased to 1 520, therefore, reducing the number of those not recommended from 1 930 to 1 660 and counting.
“The number will continue to change because of the 1 284 appeals emails that have been received to date,” the Minister said.
He added that the panel had attended to 698 of the appeals.
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“270 of those have been successful,” he said.
1 050 applications had been sent for payment by May 26.
“The balance is being attended to,” Mthethwa said.
The department held a meeting on May 6 with sector stakeholders to look at how, within the legal parameters, the department can ensure that those who really need the assistance, especially from the disadvantaged communities, receive funding.
“We have subsequently beefed up our mechanisms in order to fast-track the process.
“Adjudication has been closed and the department, with the help of an independent committee, is finalising the appeals process,” Mthethwa said.
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