The Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, (DSRAC), Hon MEC Fezeka Nkomonye has today, 25 August 2020 announced beneficiaries of the R15million Relief Fund for the cultural, creative and sport sector in the Province of the Eastern Cape in East London.
MEC Nkomonye highlighted the process the Province took after the national announcement of the COVID-19 relief fund by minister Mthethwa.
“As the province we also announced a R15 million relief fund that would help mitigate the effect of the pandemic on the Sport, Cultural and Creative sector. We met hear at Guild Theatre on the 28th of May to launch the Social Relief Fund. Applications were opened and initially closed on the 12th of June 2020 but when we realised that many people struggled with the online system, we extended the deadline date to the 19th of June 2020″
“An independent adjudication panel was appointed to make sure that the process is free and fair. I would like to thank all of them as they worked day and night trying to make sure that all those who needed to benefit from the relief fund, do benefit. I must admit, the process did not come without challenges. This was the first time the department had to sit for such work and that on its own presented challenge that forced us to postpone our August 15 deadline for the announcement.”
“The fact that the adjudicators worked virtually and not under one roof was one of the delaying factors. We have also had to deal with supporting staff contracting COVID-19, again that meant more delays. I am happy we were able to deal with most of the challenges and we are here now to make the announcement, having had a free and fair process that considered each and every application that was sent through to the department.”
The Department received 856 applications and the breakdown is as follow:
261 of the applications came from Sport and the Recreation sector:
- 14 from OR Tambo
- 3 from Amathole
- 6 in Chris Hani
- 2 in Alfred Ndzo
- 66 in the Nelson Mandela Metro
- 167 in the Buffalo City
- 3 in Sarah Baartman and no application was received from the Joe Gqabi district.
From the 261 applications, 102 have been approved with a budget allocation of just R 1 533 308. These include five federations, 67 athletes, 13 coaches, 1 technical official, I facilitator/event organiser, 9 fitness instructors and 12 clubs. 38 applications were declined due to non-compliance with the stipulated requirements.
A total of 106 boxing applications are still pending as the panel is still verifying some licence information with Boxing South Africa (BSA).
ARTS AND CULTURE
597 applications which constitute the majority of the applications the Department received from the Arts and Culture sector.
Here is a breakdown in terms of districts:
- 42 in Amathole
- 119 in Alfred Ndzo
- 163 in the Buffalo City
- 33 in Chris Hani
- 36 in Joe Gqabi
- 102 in the Nelson Mandela Metro
- 78 in OR Tambo and
- 24 in Sarah Baartman
The adjudication panel approved a total of 316 applications with a total allocation of R6 604 236. A total of 220 applications were not approved and 55 are still being finalised by the adjudication panel.
The breakdown of the approved applications is as follows.
| ARTFORM | RECEIVED | RECOMMENDED |
| Craft & Visual Arts | 247 | 144 |
| Dance | 16 | 12 |
| Drama | 34 | 26 |
| Film | 18 | The film sector was covered through funding from ECPAC and NFVF |
| Language and Literature | 33 | 16 |
| Music | 212 | 113 |
| Heritage and Culture | 28 | 18 |
| Multi-Discipline | 9 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 597 | 330 |
The allocation breakdown is as follows:
| Category | No | Max Individual Offer | Total Offer |
| Micro | 56 | R5 000,00 | R269 236,00 |
| | 10 | R2 000,00 | R20 000,00 |
| Small | 79 | R15 000,00 | R1 185 000,00 |
| Large | 171 | R30 000,00 | R5 130 000,00 |
| Living Legends | 28 | R5 000,00 | R140 000,00 |
The Department will now engage in a process of informing the beneficiaries who have received the funding or have not, starting from tomorrow 26 August 2020 till 4 September 2020. There will be also an opportunity for appeals from 7 to 30 of September 2020 as it was stipulated in the criteria for application.
For media queries, contact:
Spokesperson to MEC Nkomonye
Ms Busisiwe Jemsana-Mantashe
Email: Busisiwe.Mantashe@ecsrac.gov.za
or
Communications Manager
Mr Andile Nduna
Email: Andile.Nduna@ecsrac.gov.za
Issued by
DSRAC Communications
Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture – DSRAC E.C
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