PRETORIA – Three SA Tourism (SAT) board members resigned on Friday following criticism around the Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal. According to eNCA, Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen and Rosemary Anderson tendered their resignations effective immediately.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, SAT acting chief executive Themba Khumalo defended the government entity’s proposed R1 billion sponsorship of English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and said they would be forging ahead with the bid.
At a media briefing called to address the issue of the controversial deal, which made headlines after the leaking of a confidential proposal document, Khumalo said although SAT had not yet signed a contract, it would do so after it had gone through the government processes.
Goodness this is the guy in charge of our tourism marketing: totally tone deaf even as the nation disagrees with him. #R1Billion on a marketing gimmick. #ThembaKhumalo #SATourismCEO pic.twitter.com/3KizXRiLEt
— Zukile Majova (@majovazb) February 2, 2023
“We obtained conditional board approval for the partnership on January 31. On February 1, we appraised our shareholder, the minister of tourism.
“What is now left in the process is to consult our tourism sector stakeholders and national Treasury, prior to finalising anything,” Khumalo said.
This week there was outrage over the reported three-year £42.5 million deal that SAT planned to sign with the London club in the hope of attracting tourists to the country through advertising and marketing exposure.
Khumalo said the controversy generated by the sum of R1bn was unnecessary as the money would have been spent marketing South Africa overseas whether or not the proposal was signed.
“Money that is invested in tourism is not the same money that’s required for energy; it’s not the same amount of money that’s required for potholes.
“We are not asking for new money from the fiscus. This money is an aggregation of all the small little projects that we spend money on, gathered together for a high-impact initiative.”
However, President Cyril Ramaphosa has also added his voice to the saga, saying he did not believe it was appropriate to spend almost R1bn on the marketing campaign.
“We do not think spending so much money in the manner that is being suggested will be justified,” presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya told AFP, adding Ramaphosa had not been briefed on the matter.
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