STOP the deal.
Those are orders from Tourism minister Patricia De Lille, following the letter sent to the South African Tourism to halt proposed sponsorship deal of Tottenham Hotspur FC for close to R1bn.
After months and weeks on whether deal would go ahead, the no-nonsense De Lille, finally put a lid on the speculations citing it “would be unconstitutional” to go ahead with it.
“The SA Tourism (SAT) board will no longer proceed with the transaction, nor will it seek the concomitant requisite approvals for the proposed transaction.
“As stated before, in the current economic climate, the use of public funds must be carefully considered and for any department to fulfil its mandate, it must be done in a cost-effective way, exploring multiple options and with due consideration for all priorities. “Our justification for any significant spending must still make sense in terms of the broader economic climate we find ourselves in as a country,” said De Lille.
She said she received feedback on the proposed sponsorship deal from the SAT board chairperson Thozamile Botha on Wednesday.
“In a letter from the SA Tourism Board chairperson, based on the advice I have given to the board and which I had publicly stated, that the deal should not proceed, the board has agreed not to proceed with the proposal,” she said.
“In this regard, I look forward to continuing to engage SAT’s board and executive management, as I have done in my first two weeks in office, and working with them and the department of tourism on strategic actions we can take to enhance SA’s position globally as a top tourist destination,” she said.
The minister said they would explore other avenues to attract tourists into the country, and said she would continue engaging SAT and the department in more detail on the budget to ensure that they fulfill the department’s mandate of growing visitor numbers to SA to enable growth of the economy and increase job creation.
“It is my hope that all proposals going forward will be discussed at the earliest time to ensure that myself and the department, together with our main entity SAT, work together from the onset and seek advice and support from one another, while following all due processes and legislative requirements.”
Personally, I would have loved to see the deal go through but in the future, as it resonates well from economic and tourism perspective.
At the time of publishing SAT had not responded for a comment.
Image supplied (Halt the deal finish & klaar, orders Tourism minister Patricia De Lille).
