DURBAN - THE eThekwini Municipality Full Council sitting on Tuesday approved the R2.5 million Annual Durban Tourism Awards, despite requests from opposition parties for it to be scrapped and the money injected into tourism businesses.
The DA and the ACDP voted against it saying the money could be better used to help small, medium and macro enterprises stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic instead of a one-day industry party.
DA councillor Bheka Ntuli, a member of the Economic Development and Planning Committee, said: “The DA wishes to see companies in the tourism industry being acknowledged and marketed. However, this event does not achieve that.”
He said some businesses in the tourism sector were converting permanent employment to contracts and temporary employment agreements.
“It would make complete sense to subsidise companies in the tourism industry to keep their employees. The ANC opted to waste money on events leading up to an annual Durban Tourism Awards event.”
He added that during the committee meeting on June 3, the ANC voted to throw a series of events leading up to the awards ceremony.
“With R2.5m you can pay 715 salaries of R3 500. If that’s not the case, rather finance companies in the tourism industry for upkeep since their revenue is low,” Ntuli said.
Michelle Brooks, of the now-defunct Happy Hippo Accommodation in the Point Precinct, expressed disappointment at the council’s decision to go ahead with the awards.
“The money should have been used to help small businesses stay alive, and pay wages to staff. What is there to award? We were closed and had no tourism, because of the lockdown,” she said.
Brooks won the National Lilizela Award in 2015 and five provincial Lilizela Awards from 2015 to 2019.
All her awards were in the 3-star Backpacking and Hostel category.
She closed the hostel in 2020 during the hard lockdown and had to retrench all 12 of her employees.
Daily News