SA Tourism acting CFO keeps mum on notice of suspension, chair Thozamile Botha says

Acting SA Tourism CFO Johan van der Walt has not responded to a notice of suspension served on him last week.

That is according to SA Tourism board chair Thozamile Botha, who said on Tuesday Van der Walt was served with a notice asking him why he should not be suspended, after preliminary investigations suggested he did not declare his conflict of interest or recuse himself from meetings discussing a sponsorship deal with English football team Tottenham Hotspur.

Botha said on Tuesday the deadline was on Monday, and the last time he spoke to SA Tourism he had not heard whether Van der Walt had responded.

Botha said if there was no response, the board would have to decide on a course of action.

Daily Maverick reported Van der Walt had links to an agency that would receive a £1.5m (about R32m) fee to “activate” the sponsorship. Van der Walt told the website he had no financial interest in the agency, WWP Group, but he had done consulting work for it, mainly on tax matters.

After the resignation of three SA Tourism board members two weeks ago, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu suggested last week the board should be focused on suspending Van der Walt, who allegedly brought ethical defects to the deal.

The proposed three-year agreement worth nearly R1bn, which included printing a message about SA on the club’s jerseys as part of a campaign to get millions of people around the world who watch the league to visit the country, has been put on hold.

On Saturday, SA Tourism dropped its forensic investigation into who leaked the document about the planned sponsorship deal.

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