The dissolved board of SA Tourism is considering its legal options, former board member Lawson Naidoo confirmed on Tuesday.
Tourism minister Patricia de Lille dissolved the board last week, accusing it of unlawfully convening a special meeting. The Sunday Times reported De Lille and the board clashed over the board’s decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the entity’s now-suspended CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe.
The issue centres on a R4.1m prepayment to a service provider for work that, according to investigators, was never carried out — an allegation the company firmly denied.
The DA and Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) have since accused De Lille of protecting the suspended CEO by dissolving the board instead of allowing it to pursue an investigation into the allegations.
In an interview with the SABC on Monday, De Lille defended her actions, saying she disbanded the board because it repeatedly breached governance laws. She insisted that the CEO “remains suspended” and that she had “no reason to protect somebody”, stressing that her actions were based on senior counsel’s legal advice and her responsibility under the Tourism Act to safeguard the integrity of the organisation.
SA’s role as the G20 presidency powerhouse has offered the country a rare chance to reframe travel and tourism as a central pillar of the economic agenda. De Lille dismissed concerns that the saga could hurt SA’s preparations to host the G20 summit.
Tourism already supports 1.6-million jobs and contributes nearly 9% to the national GDP. The Tourism Growth Partnership Plan, to be implemented over the next five years, aims to grow tourism employment to 2.5-million jobs, increase the sector’s GDP contribution to 10% and attract an additional 1-million international air arrivals annually.
International tourism data for July, released by Stats SA on Tuesday, showed that those travelling from overseas countries climbed to just over 20% year on year.
“Going forward and as we move into shoulder season and the seasonally significant festive period, we expect a strong pickup in traveller numbers,” said Investec economist Lara Hodes.
According to the data, total traveller movements (including arrivals, departures and transits) stood at just over 3.07-million, of which 1.2-million were foreign visitors. Of this group, 75% were tourists — meaning they stayed for at least one night. Most were in SA for a holiday.
The US, UK and the Netherlands continued to be the country’s most lucrative overseas source markets, collectively contributing 43% of all overseas tourists. Tourists from Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries formed the backbone of regional arrivals, making up 77.5% of all tourists.
Growth in income derived from the tourist accommodation industry eased to 6.5% year on year in June, from 13.5% year on year (revised) previously.
Hotels emerged as the standout performers, registering a 12.9% year-on-year increase in income and contributing 6.9 percentage points to the overall sector growth.
“Consumers domestically remain largely constrained in a low-growth environment, while unemployment ticked up in [the second quarter]. Moreover, tourism numbers are generally less favourable during the winter months,” Hodes said.
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