Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille appointed seven new members to the South African Tourism Board over the weekend, following the resignation of six board members in September.
The appointments come two weeks after the South African Tourism Authority (SAT) chairman and vice-chairman resigned after being removed from their roles by the minister and retained only as directors. Four other members, including chief financial officer Talib Sadiq, have since resigned.
Delisle publicly announced the board shake-up on September 10 after becoming concerned about the number of meetings the board was holding.
she said email and guardian: “Of the R1.4 million allocated for executive remuneration for the entire financial year, we spent R900,000 in six months. This issue is about taxpayers’ money… [parliament] The Tourism Portfolio Committee also expressed concern about the number of board meetings. ”
De Lille was appointed by a new board in February 2024 after dissolving the previous board in April 2023 following a proposal to spend R910 million on sponsorship of English football club Tottenham Hotspur. was appointed.
SAT is the government agency responsible for marketing South Africa as a tourist destination. Tourism has made a huge contribution to the economy, but it is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Statistics South Africa, the sector's direct contribution to gross domestic product in 2022 was larger than construction, agriculture and utilities, but still below its pre-pandemic contribution of 3.7%.
David Frost, chief executive officer of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association, who also served on Derek Hannecombe's SAT in 2018, said: email and guardian SAT has a long history of not fulfilling its responsibilities adequately and failing to reach the “optimal level that we aspire to as a private sector.”
“[De Lille] In my view it was an inherently risky transaction, the parties involved were exposed and suspicious, and we needed to stabilize the organization and remove those elements. ”
He welcomed the new SAT appointments, adding that they bring diverse expertise and experience to the Board, which is essential for the development and implementation of effective tourism strategies.
These include Rachel Nxele, who also serves as vice-chairman of the association's board of directors. Jonathan Gadia, Chief Executive Officer of Thompsons Africa and Judy Nwokedi, Group Chief Sustainability Officer of Tourvest Integrated Tourism Group, as well as Transnet Railway and Rosen Naidoo. Former CEOs Mr. Miller Mottola and Mr. Tumelo Serikan also participate. Commercial marketing experience.
“We are confident that their collective knowledge and leadership will help lead South Africa’s tourism industry to a successful future.”
However, the blunders between former board president Mahosazana Haniyil and vice president Lizelle Dominique Jordaan are not over yet. Both men announced on September 17 that they would take legal action against Delisle for public defamation, adding that they were dissatisfied with the minister's comments. to act against them.
Mr. Khanyil acknowledged this and said: M&G They said: “We have a lawyer representing us and we are cooperating with him. Relevant documents will be issued soon.”
In a formal statement, they said: “First and foremost, we must address the charges leveled against us regarding the convening of ‘excessive’ board meetings that allegedly resulted in futile, wasteful and irregular spending.
“As we have previously indicated, we strongly deny these accusations, and we particularly regret that you saw fit to appear on national television to make these accusations against us. Additionally, you have stated on various media platforms that we were given the opportunity to respond to the allegations and chose not to.''
Mr De Lille said: M&G She stood by her decision to exclude them and insisted they had the right to decide how to deal with the problem.
He added that had Sadiq resigned, citing “the former chair and vice chair's failure to understand their fiduciary responsibilities and interference with the organization's finances,” an independent investigation into the matter would have been launched. .
“Regarding the resignations of the other three directors, no reason has been provided for their resignations,” she added.