The Gauteng Sports, Arts and Culture Department has sought to justify its decision to spend more than R17 million on two service providers to administer R13.2 million COVID-19 relief grants to the province’s athletes and artists.
A bidding process was allegedly not followed in choosing the two companies, Business Arts South Africa and the Gauteng Sports Confederation, to pay the grants.
Opposition parties in the provincial legislature say they the companies had been identified as sector stakeholders.
They say officials of the department could have done the administration of the grants to cut down on costs and ensure that more artists and athletes benefited.
In the audio file below, MEC Mbali Hlophe explains why they opted to use brokers.
In September 2020, Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced that the his department has already paid out R61 million in COVID-19 relief grant.
Athletes whose sole source of income was derived from prize money were be able to apply for relief shortly.
The department said it had received over 5 000 applications for the relief funds.
This is the money paid out to sport athletes and to those in the arts, culture and heritage sectors.
In the video below, Mthethwa hosts a virtual media briefing to update the nation on the progress made with regards to the COVID-19 relief fund allocation:
