Minister Lindiwe Sisulu. (Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Parliament’s portfolio committee on tourism on Wednesday said it has repudiated SA Tourism’s proposal to extend a sponsorship worth some R1 billion to Tottenham Hotspurs and would investigate the deal.
In a statement, the committee said it had told Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu that “the R1 billion Tottenham Hotspur Football Club deal must be cancelled with immediate effect”.
“Furthermore, the portfolio committee will investigate the deal.”
The committee said it had also demanded the resignation of the acting chief financial officer of SA Tourism, Johan van der Walt, because of a conflict of interest that became apparent during a briefing on the subject on Tuesday.
The spokesperson for the committee was not immediately able to expand on the nature of the alleged conflict of interest. But it has been reported that Van der Walt has downplayed his ties with WWP Agency, the entity that would receive an upfront fee of some R30 million as part of the terms of the deal that would see the government, through SA Tourism, sponsor the English Premier League team for three years.
The committee said it would recommend that the money that would have flowed to the deal be reprioritised.
It had firm words for Sisulu, following a fraught exchange between the minister and the chairperson of the committee, Tandi Mahambehlala, on Tuesday.
It said Mahambehlala told the minister that the committee derives its mandate from parliament and hence was within its rights to put on hold any project funded with money appropriated by the legislature.
“This was in response to Ms Sisulu saying that only the president can stop the deal,” the committee said.
“Ms Mahambehlala made it categorically clear to Ms Sisulu that it is the executive that accounts to parliament, not the other way round.”
The exchange between the two happened at a meeting called to allow the minister and SA Tourism to brief the committee on the details of the proposed sponsorship. The committee made clear that it doubted the Tottenham Hotspurs deal would result in a major tourism influx to South Africa.
“Furthermore, there is no way that R1 billion of South Africa’s money can be used to pay for an international programme when poverty is deepening in South Africa.”
The committee said the presentation it received from SA Tourism acting chief executive Themba Khumalo was not persuasive, and flagged the fact that the South African Football Association (Safa) was not listed among the stakeholders consulted with regard to the sponsorship.
“The exclusion of Safa is incomprehensible and ridiculous,” it quoted Mahambehlala as saying.
It said Sisulu had been quizzed about her knowledge of the deal and about a visit to the club, in north London.
“In response, Minister Sisulu said she is unaware of the existence of the deal and that it cannot exist without the permission of the national treasury and the president beyond a certain amount of money.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa has poured cold water on the deal.
“Even though the presidency has not been briefed, we do not think spending so much money in the manner that is being suggested is justified,” his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday.
Magwenya added that the president had no intention of addressing the matter during his State of the Nation address on Thursday.
It was reported that SA Tourism’s Khumalo was pushing for the deal, which would commit the entity to £42.5 million over three years, to be concluded before the end of March, in other words before the end of the financial year.
The plan apparently was for it to be announced during Ramaphosa’s address on Thursday, hence the significance of the presidency’s assurance that there would be no mention of it.
The fraught exchange between Sisulu and Mahambehlala came after the minister joined the briefing straight from a meeting of all cabinet committees.