Former SA Tourism CEO Sisa Ntshona left a trail of dodgy deals, while the entity’s current CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe, got a slap on the wrist for her role in the contracts that have been declared unlawful in court.
The revelations of the two contracts Ntshona spearheaded without going through open tender processes also lift the lid on the reasons he vacated the position in May 2021, four months before his five-year term was supposed to end.
The board at the time tried to make it appear Ntshona’s exit was solely based on a new career opportunity.
“Sisa recently approached the board for an earlier exit as he was presented with a new career opportunity that required him to start much sooner than anticipated,” said then-chair Siyabonga Dube.
“The board discussed this and agreed to the request, and although it is sad to see him leave the organisation, we also appreciate Sisa’s honesty and transparency and we wish him well in his future endeavours.”
However, Business Day can reveal Ntshona left just a month after the board launched a forensic investigation into allegations of irregularities in the awarding of tenders.
The board became aware of the irregularities relating to transactions with Swift Thinking and Letsema Consulting in December 2020.
An internal audit presented a report of its findings to the board on March 27 2021 and on March 31 2021, the board resolved to conduct a forensic investigation into the transactions. The forensic report, which SA Tourism has kept under wraps, was finalised in August 2021. The findings led to the board seeking legal advice, which recommended disciplinary action against SA Tourism employees implicated in the contracts.
Then-COO Sthembiso Dlamini and Guliwe, who then held the role of CFO, were each given a six months’ written warning for their role in the appointments of Swift and Letsema. Guliwe would later be appointed CEO, replacing Ntshona.
The legal advice also recommended SA Tourism launch legal proceedings to recoup monies paid to Swift and Letsema. These contracts came into effect in March 2020, shortly after the country reported its first case of Covid-19, bringing tourism and the economy to a screeching halt.
Ntshona invited Letsema to submit a proposal for Letsema to be appointed to lead a project team to develop the tourism recovery plan.
Letsema then submitted a proposal, which reflected an estimated cost of R1m per month payable to it for its services for a period of three months. Letsema got two further contracts from Tourism SA, earning about R10m in the process — with all three contracts awarded outside the entity’s supply chain management (SCM) rules.
The high court in Pretoria declared all contracts unlawful in a judgment that calls into question the leniency the board showed to Guliwe.
“The portrayal of Mr Ntshona as some sort of a despot, single-handedly ruling SA Tourism by fiat may be serving a convenient purpose in the advance of these applications, but does not place those who served with him in SA Tourism’s exco in a better light,” the high court judgment read. “There is no justification for them having allowed Mr Ntshona to run SA Tourism like his private fiefdom, as alleged.
“Mr Ntshona’s role, powers and functions ought to have been statutorily and contractually defined ... It behoved the other exco members to have taken steps to bring to a halt the transgressions and not to have turned a blind eye when the constitution and the SCM policy were being breached or to have cowered into a sea of indifference.
“I have noted the outcome of the disciplinary steps reported to have been taken by SA Tourism against the senior employees found to have been implicated in the transgressions. All I can say — with respect — is that the punishment meted out does not bear the hallmarks of the relief sought against Swift and Letsema, identified as the external role players in the transgressions, in these reviews,” the judgment reads.
SA Tourism declined to comment. “The matters are sub judice and SA Tourism is currently not in a position to make pronouncements on these.”
Ntshona said he was not made aware of the review application brought by SA Tourism.
“My resignation had nothing to do with the investigation, I resigned to undertake a business venture in the private sector within the tourism industry,” he said.
“I took a three-month cool-off period (as a matter of personal good practice) because of the seniority of the role I was in.
“I do not believe the contracts were unlawful. Swift Thinking performed a specific function on a digitalisation project for the tourism industry — the initiative was spearheaded by Jurni (an Amadeus subsidiary), tangible and measurable outcomes were achieved,” Ntshona said.
“Letsema also produced tangible and measurable outcomes ... the tourism recovery plan (developed through engagement with the tourism industry, international benchmarking and stats analysis) this report was a material contribution to the tourism recovery plan that was ultimately adopted and approved by the cabinet.”
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