Guest house owners need to unite against these extortionists

The disgraceful conduct of civil servants demanding cash back in place of the meals included in the charges at guest houses is shameful.

The guest house owners say the alleged extortion is taking a big chunk out of their income.

The guest houses bill a total amount of about R480 for three meals a day but are being squeezed for the cash instead by government officials.

Some greedy officials are asking for even more than the billed amount — in some cases as much as R700, according to the accommodation owners.

Should the businesses refuse to be a party to the unethical practice, they are threatened with being blacklisted.

The shady practice itself is not new. It has been around for years.

What is really astounding, though, is that instead of being nipped in the bud when it was first brought into the public domain, it has been allowed to flourish unchecked.

“The concerns we have raised are ... long-standing issues that have persisted within the system,” Women in Tourism Eastern Cape chair Weziwe Busakhwe said recently in a strongly worded letter to finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko.

“Despite our efforts to bring attention to these matters, we have yet to see meaningful progress.

“We believe that the time has come for decisive action to be taken to address these challenges.” 

She said the demands were threatening the viability of their businesses.

Amathole Women in Tourism chair Thandi Mkhanzana said she had been fighting against the extortion since 2022.

“There is no department in the government that has not done this.”

Mvoko said the provincial treasury was already aware of the practice in 2019 and had instituted control measures and issued a provincial instruction note to departments and public entities prohibiting it.

The National Treasury later issued an instruction reinforcing its prohibition. 

Though the government should do more to address the problem, there is only so much it can do.

The real power to stop the practice lies with the business owners.

Giving in to these demands simply feeds the greed and encourages others to eat at the same trough.

To stop the practice, accommodation businesses need to stand together in rejecting the demands and reporting them immediately to the government.

If everyone refused to be blackmailed into giving cashbacks, the demands would soon stop because the officials would have nowhere to stay if they blacklisted everyone who said no to their outrageous demands.

The Herald