The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) has allocated R1 million in COVID-19 relief funds to successful applicants from various sport federations in the province, assisting sportspeople who have been negatively impacted by the cancellation of events due to the coronavirus.
According to Stacy McLean, Spokesperson for MEC Anroux Marais, who revealed the sport and recreation adjudication committee completed its work in June 2020, after receiving 108 federation applications on behalf of their various coaches, athletes, technical officials and recreation entities across the province.
“We are happy to announce that as of 30 July 2020, all successful applicants have now received their allocated relief funding,” she said, in response to Cape At 6 Sport questions.
It is not clear how many of the 108 applicants had been successful, and which sporting codes they hailed from.
But McLean said the criteria for the identification of beneficiaries and the mechanism through which the fund was managed was done in consultation with the Western Cape Provincial Sport Confederation.
“To ensure transparency and greater range of support, with only R1 million available to fund our provincial sport and recreation relief applications, the national Department of Sport and Culture was requested to provide the Western Cape DCAS with a database of our provincial athletes, federations and entities that have applied for the national relief fund and the outcome of those applications,” she noted. “Where an application had been successful, the applicant was not eligible for any provincial relief.”
This is good news for a sector hit hard by the coronavirus, with many events having been cancelled (including the Two Oceans Marathon and the Knysna Oyster Festival), and Provincial Trials for the Winter Games, Indigenous Games, Golden Games and leagues and festival support for club development having been adversely impacted.
For more on that, check out the latest issue of the Cape At 6 magazine, where we explore the impact of COVID-19 on sport and sportspeople. And if you want to know more about what’s happening in sport, stay tuned – we’ll keep you posted.
