The South African tourism agency, SA Tourism, has been implicated in dodgy payments worth millions of rands that were slipped through via invoices generated by its offices in the US and South Africa. The discovery of the misappropriated funds was triggered after an SA Tourism review confirmed that a significant portion of the payments was received by a media agency in March 2023 and signed off by three executives for services that weren't rendered. The invoices, amounting to R35-million, were signed off by the outgoing acting CEO, the chief operations officer, and the acting chief financial officer, all of whom no longer work for the agency.
The Department of Tourism, led by Minister Patricia de Lille, has recently become aware of irregular payments made through SA Tourism’s US and South Africa offices for services not rendered. The agency falls under the tourism department and has hub offices in key source market countries around the world where they promote and market the country. An internal audit report is being finalized, and an audit of the SA Tourism office in New York will also be conducted.
Nombulelo Guliwe, a chartered accountant, will lead SA Tourism for the next five years. The agency has been in turmoil for years, with five officials acting as CEO since 2021. In January 2023, Daily Maverick reported that the South African government was on the verge of approving a three-year deal worth just over R910-million for SA Tourism to sponsor the English Premier League football team, Tottenham Hotspur. However, the controversial proposal led to the mass resignation of previous board members, and then-tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu flatly denied trying to force SA Tourism to push through the deal before she left the portfolio.
De Lille was appointed tourism minister on 6 March last year and took legal advice before dissolved the board on 21 April 2023. In response to the recovery of funds for SA Tourism, the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa), Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa), and Association of Southern African Travel Agents (Asata) issued a joint statement, praising Guliwe and De Lille for “proactively identifying and recovering the full misappropriated funds, processed in March 2023; rapidly engaging the Auditor-General for a comprehensive audit; and demonstrating an unwavering commitment to transparency and good governance”.
SOURCE: Daily Maverick
