R13m in tourism relief funds paid to dead ‘tour guides’ and civil servants

At least R13 million meant to cushion the battered tourism sector was squandered on UIF beneficiaries, public servants and 17 deceased persons, according to a Parliament reply to a question by the DA.

Furthermore, one tourism fund relief beneficiary and 26 tour guides received payments twice.

The payments were disbursed through the department’s Tourism Relief Fund and the Relief Fund for Tourist Guides during the Covid-19 hard lockdown.

The details on the payments were contained in a reply by Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to DA spokesperson for tourism MP Mannie de Freitas‘ questions on the Covid-19 relief payments in the sector.

“There appears to have been major deficiencies and a lack of controls in the issuing of funds to beneficiaries of both funds during the hard lockdown period.

“Payments were made from these funds without proper checks to ensure that funds were paid to only qualifying beneficiaries,” said De Freitas.

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‘Payments to 17 dead ‘tour guides’

As part of the tour guide relief payments, 17 people who are dead were paid R4,500 each.

Other irregular payments include:

• 273 payments to social grants recipients
• 1,350 payments made to Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) beneficiaries
• 58 payments to people employed in government
• 1,172 payments to people with invalid or incorrect ID numbers

The payments, said De Freitas, are another example of millions of rands lost “thanks to ill-qualified ANC deployees who administer taxpayers’ money”.

“It is shocking that the Tourism Department was not able to confirm a simple identity number or whether a person was alive or not during the application and payment process.

“Considering that there are hundreds of tour guides that suffered and continue to suffer incredible economic hardships, it is unacceptable that this was allowed to happen by the department,” said De Freitas.

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‘Investigation underway’

In 2020, government announced a relief fund of R200 million to SMME’s affected by the lockdown that shut down the tourism sector. Payments were capped at R50,000 per business.

They included accommodation establishments such as hotels, lodges and bed and breakfasts (B&Bs), guest houses and backpackers.

Other targeted businesses were restaurants and conference venues not attached to hotels, tour operators, tour guides and car rental companies.

Sisulu said in the reply that an investigation into the irregular payments would be concluded by April.

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