Six board members quit in September after the minister announced a shake-up
Tourism minister Patricia de Lille appointed seven new members to the South African Tourism board over the weekend, after six board members resigned in September.
The appointments come two weeks after the chairperson and deputy chair of South African Tourism (SAT) resigned after the minister removed them from their positions, retaining them as board members only. Four other members, including the chief financial officer, Talib Sadik, subsequently resigned.
De Lille publicly announced the shake-up to the board on 10 September because she had become concerned with the number of meetings the board was holding.
She told the Mail & Guardian: “In six months, they spent R900 000 of the R1.4 million allocated for board fees for the full financial year. This matter is about taxpayers’ money … the [parliament] tourism portfolio committee also raised concerns about the excessive amount of board meetings.”
De Lille appointed the new board in February 2024 after dissolving the previous board in April 2023 following their proposals to spend R910 million sponsoring UK football club Tottenham Hotspur.
The SAT is the government agency responsible for marketing South Africa as a tourism destination. Tourism has made a significant contribution to the economy but is still recovering after Covid-19.
In 2022, the sector’s direct contribution to gross domestic product was larger than three industries: construction, agriculture and utilities, but still below the pre-pandemic contribution of 3.7%, according to Statistics South Africa.
David Frost, the chief executive officer of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association – who also served on the SAT under the leadership of Derek Hannekom in 2018 – told the Mail & Guardian the SAT had a long history of not fulfilling its duties properly and not getting to the “optimum level we as the private sector would like to see it”.
“[De Lille] came in in the aftermath of the Spurs debacle which was inherently, in my view, a dodgy deal, and the people involved were compromised and suspect, so there was a need to stabilise the organisation and to get rid of those elements.”
He welcomed the new SAT appointments, adding that they brought a diversity of expertise and experience to the board, which is essential for the development and implementation of effective tourism strategies.
They include Rachel Nxele, who also serves as the vice chairperson on the association board; Jonathan Gadiah, the chief executive officer of Thompsons Africa and Judi Nwokedi, the group chief sustainability officer at Tourvest Integrated Tourism Group, as well as the former chief executive officer of Transnet Rail, Lawsen Naidoo, Miller Motola and Tumelo Selikane, all who come with experience in commercial marketing.
“We are confident that their collective knowledge and leadership will be instrumental in guiding South African tourism towards a successful future.”
The debacle with the former board chair Makhosazana Khanyile and deputy chair Lizelle Dominique Jordaan is, however, not complete, as the pair announced on 17 September that they would take legal action against De Lille for public defamation, adding that they were unhappy with the minister’s conduct towards them.
Khanyile confirmed this, telling the M&G that they have “attorneys representing us and that we are working with the attorneys — the relevant documents will be issued soon.”
In their formal statement, they said: “First and foremost, we must address the accusations brought against us regarding the convening of ‘excessive’ board meetings, which purportedly resulted in fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure.
“As we have previously indicated we strongly deny these accusations and we find it particularly regrettable that you thought it appropriate to go on national television to make these accusations against us. In addition, you stated on various media platforms that we were given an opportunity to respond to the allegations and that we chose not to. That is simply not factually correct.”
De Lille told the M&G that she stands by her decision to remove them and they had the right to decide how to deal with the matter.
She added that had Sadik resigned because of the “failure of the former chair and deputy chair to understand their fiduciary duties and the interference in the finances of the organisation” and that she had launched an independent investigation into the matter.
“In terms of the resignation of the other three board members, they have not advanced any reasons for their resignations,” she added.