Cape Town - Amid speculation that Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu might pull the plug on the proposed South Africa Tourism (SAT) R1 billion Tottenham Hotspur deal, the DA has submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application for all documentation relating to the negotiations.
DA Tourism spokesperson Manny de Freitas, who filed the application, said: “The PAIA application seeks documentation that shows that South Africa and tourism would benefit from this deal.”
De Freitas said the application was particularly important considering that last week’s media briefing by SAT “created more confusion and additional questions than answers”.
He said it was vital for the information to be obtained as soon as possible, particularly considering that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson last week publicly announced that the president did not support the deal.
Speculation about the cancelling of the controversial deal stems from the fact that Minister Sisulu is set to brief the president on it ahead of this week’s State of the Nation Address after having been briefed herself in a meeting with the SAT board on Saturday.
Sisulu’s spokesperson Steve Motale, who confirmed that the minister would be speaking to the president about the deal, said: “The meeting hasn’t happened as yet. But (I) will let you know once it happens.”
Plans by the tourism agency to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur were unveiled last week, at a time when record power cuts have wreaked havoc on the country and citizens are battling rising food and fuel costs.
Last week, the ministry said the deal was a non-binding proposal to conclude a memorandum of understanding with the English club.
The ministry said that the proposal still had to pass muster within the department and was subject to the concurrence of National Treasury, to conform to government prescripts.
The proposal has caused upheavals on the SAT board leading to the resignation of three members over the weekend.
The three former board members, Cape Town Tourism’s Enver Duminy, former Tsogo Sun Hotels chief operating officer Ravi Nadasen and Fedhasa national chairperson Rosemary Anderson, said they had quit after voicing their disapproval of the proposed deal.
Defending the proposal last week SAT acting chief executive Themba Khumalo said the proposal was part of an aggressive approach to its international marketing efforts of the country.
Khumalo said: “We cannot carry on with business as usual, because it will not yield the desired results. This is why we are contemplating a partnership of this scale with Tottenham Hotspurs FC, to really help us shift the dial in our tourist arrivals.”
