Covid-19: Relief applications being processed for athletes and artists

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture announced that over 90 athletes and 105 artists have been approved for funding in line with the R150 million relief fund for this sector.

On 25 March, Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced the relief fund for the sector in response to the dire circumstances faced by athletes and artists due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Independent adjudicators were appointed and the adjudication process is currently under way.

The sports sector adjudication committee was the first to be appointed and begin the adjudication process. They received only 300 applications from the sector.

Over 90 athletes were approved and have received funding. The remaining athletes are still being processed and upon completion, the department will finalise the sporting sector relief funding process.

By the deadline of 6 April, the Department of Arts and Culture received 5 000 Covid-19 Relief Fund applications.

The adjudication process has overseen 1 000 of these so far, 105 of which have been approved and are being processed for payment.

The department is in the process of devising mechanisms to fast-track the process.

In a statement released by the department, they expressed concern that most applications did not meet the basic requirements. This ranges from insufficient proof of cancellation of events to outstanding basic personal information.

“The major concern about this is that most of these applicants are people who seem to be the hardest hit by the impact of Covid-19. The minister will give feedback on the outcomes of the adjudication process in the next few days,” read the statement.

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