The EFF does not support Budget Vote No 35 - Tourism, because there is no indication that the department intends to legislate a minimum wage for the hard-working workers in the hospitality and tourism industry who earn a pittance, who are sometimes subjected to salaries exclusively based on tips, who work under strenuous conditions, and who are subjected to racism, not only by international and local tourists, but also by the white owners in the tourism and hospitality industry.
The department does not intend to rapidly transform the ownership structure of the industry to benefit blacks, and Africans in particular. The tourism industry continues to be dominated by whites to the exclusion of the black African indigenous people.
The industry is threatening food security by turning the country into private game reserves owned by foreigners who continue to buy stolen land. In fact, in one of the instances the President could not even pronounce that billion rand figure for the purchase of the stolen land.
The department does not have a strategy to stop the land grab by foreigners who buy land subject to land claims, and it continues with the sale of the land to the state for land claimants, instead of supporting the legislation to expropriate land without compensation. [Interjections.] The department is adamant to promote and protect white land ownership in the hospitality and tourism industry, and further unashamedly promotes white dominance of the hospitality and tourism industry to the exclusion of our black Africans. Under the circumstances, the EFF vehemently rejects the Budget Vote of the Department of Tourism. Thank you.