Parliament’s tourism portfolio committee has ordered SA Tourism to cancel the R1bn proposed sponsorship of English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
Committee chairperson Tandi Mahambehlala told the entity to also get rid of its CFO Johan van der Walt with immediate effect.
The committee resolved to conduct an investigation into the proposal to sponsor the English team as a means to promote this country and attract international visitors. It will write to finance minister Enoch Godongwana and President Cyril Ramaphosa to propose that the money budgeted for the sponsorship be reprioritised, said Mahambehlala.
Van der Walt is accused of being a director of a number of companies linked to the WWP Group, an agency that would be used to “activate” the sponsorship and which must be paid a £1.5m (R31.3m) upfront fee, according to the Daily Maverick.
“We are saying this deal is off. It ends here, today, now,” said Mahambehlala at the end of a six-and-a-half hour meeting.
The meeting was scheduled to sit for three hours, but it got so heated and was prolonged as MPs challenged every aspect of what was presented to them.
They were also angered by the absence of tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu, to whom they issued legal summons last November because she had missed a number of committee meetings to hold her department to account. ANC MPs were uncharacteristically leading the charge against Sisulu and SA Tourism.
On Tuesday, Sisulu arrived 30 minutes after the scheduled ending of the meeting with her ministry and SAT.
In a statement, her office said she had not snubbed the committee but that she was attending a joint meeting of all cabinet committees which sat at the same time as the portfolio committee meeting.
MPs across the party spectrum called for the proposal to be cancelled, saying it was not beneficial to South Africans. When Sisulu interjected saying only the president could take such a decision, it was ANC MPs who called her out of order, saying she was being disorderly and shouldn’t try to dictate to the committee.
“We understand the view of the committee and the committee chair but unfortunately this being a matter of national interest, only the president can make the decision. I think we owe it to him to be the one who takes the final decision,” said Sisulu.
Mahambehlala interrupted her, saying she was out of order.
“Here we are a committee of parliament and all executives in this country — even the president is accountable.
We understand the view of the committee and the committee chair but unfortunately this being a matter of national interest, only the president can make the decision. I think we owe it to him to be the one who takes the final decision.
— Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu
“What you are saying is extremely out of order, and we stand by our decision, and we are not going to allow you to disrupt this meeting and dictate what we must say or not say on decisions,” said Mahambehlala.
“Can she be orderly? I’m worried about how the minister is conducting herself,” added ANC MP Matshidiso Gomba.
Mahambehlala repeatedly called on Van der Walt to tender his resignation during the meeting, citing the alleged conflict of interest.
But he denied there was a conflict, saying he only played a consultancy role in WWP Group, mainly on taxation, and did not have financial interests or hold directorship in the company.
MPs were not convinced.
They insisted on an investigation into the process followed, including a chronology of events.
They questioned how SA Tourism, which previously failed to address questions about promoting domestic tourism, could suddenly enter a huge international deal.
“Sort your house first; it must be in order before you bring everyone else,” said Mahambehlala.
Other questions from MPs:
- Exclusion of the SA Football Association, as they believed when Tottenham Hotspur visits SA during off-season (part of the proposal), it will need the involvement of the SA soccer sector in organising matches with local teams
- The cost of board members’ travel to London to discuss the proposal
- Minutes of the board that took the decision to support the proposal
- The rush it took for the entity to put the deal together — the proposal was first made in December 2022, and by January 31 the matter was being recommended to the board with a few revisions and after a four-day visit to London
- The impact of load-shedding on TV viewership
Sisulu pleaded ignorance, saying she only knew of the deal “when it became an issue”.
She said she didn’t know when board members left for London, as they don’t need her permission to go anywhere, but permission is needed when it exceeds a particular amount and after consulting the finance minister.
Sisulu was also adamant that the deal does not exist until several steps are followed, and one of those steps is permission from the National Treasury and the president, and those have not been sought yet.
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