SA Tourism boss defends possible Tottenham Hotspur tie-up

SA Tourism acting CEO Themba Khumalo says the state-backed entity’s job is  to encourage international tourists to the country, and shouldn’t be conflated with money required to fix the country’s ailing infrastructure.

Khumalo’s comments come amid criticism about the company’s proposed sponsorship deal with English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Daily Maverick reported on Wednesday that the government, through the marketing agency, was proposing a 36-month deal, believed to be a sleeve sponsorship, with Tottenham at a cost of R910m over three years.

Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu aimed to conclude the deal before the impending cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa, which could see her removed from the portfolio, the news outlet added.

The proposal has drawn stinging rebukes, with critics arguing the money could be better spent elsewhere, including being allocated to dealing with the energy crisis.

“The money that’s invested in tourism is not the same money that’s required for energy,” Khumalo said. “It’s not the same amount of money that’s required to fix potholes. There are other departments that are dedicated to that and are given that mandate by legislation.

“Our legislated mandate is about persuading international people to travel to the country and spend money in our economy, and that is what we will stick to whether it is through this initiative or another one. That is what we are paid to do and we’ll continue to do until we’re told otherwise,” he added.

Khumalo confirmed the deal hadn’t been finalised, though the SA Tourism board had given provisional approval pending consultation with stakeholders, including Sisulu and the National Treasury.

“The envisioned deal has got absolutely nothing to do with football; it has got to do with accessing the aggregated audiences that football brings. We are after the viewers of football that have the spend and willingness to travel long haul to our destination,” he said.

Khumalo said it was nothing new for SA Tourism to spend millions of rand in foreign marketing and that it done so in previous years.

Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla called on the government to scrap the deal, noting that many small tourism operators were hoping for some financial relief from the department of tourism to help them recover from the loss of business in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a misguided vanity project that will contribute nothing to fix the ailing tourism industry that has not only suffered from Covid-19, but is also sabotaged by electricity cuts and high crime levels,” Pamla said.

“The federation is concerned by the number of wrong-headed and cartoonish ideas produced by government departments, and bizarrely even championed by their ministers, on how to fix this ailing sector of the economy. This comes after the department of sport, arts and culture proposed a ludicrous and absurd plan to blow about R22m on a100-metre flag monument.”

TimesLIVE