Newly appointed Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille said she has told the SA Tourism Board that the proposed English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur FC R1 billion deal must be canned because it is unlawful and irregular.
De Lille said after her recent appointment she sought and obtained legal advice regarding the controversial Hotspurs deal that was initiated by the Tourism Board during the tenure of former Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
However, in a letter responding to De Lille’s concerns, Tourism Board Chairperson Thozamile Botha said no transaction took place and therefore, there is ‘no Tottenham transaction to be cancelled as none has been concluded.
“We humbly submit that factually, there is currently no ‘unlawful and invalid’ transaction, as the transaction does not exist. The legal advice recorded in the letter is premised on there being a legal and binding transaction which is not the case given that the requisite PFMA approvals have not yet been sought. Moreover, there is no Tottenham transaction to be cancelled as none has been concluded,” he said in a letter.
Yet De Lille continued saying at her press conference that in terms of the legal advice given, there were three reasons to stop the transaction.
“The sponsorship is in fact a procurement event which does not comply with Section 217 of the Constitution, the Treasury in terms of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (PFMA) and SA Tourism’s own Supply Chain Management Policy.
“It appears that the sponsorship is a service which was proposed to be acquired by procurement through “sole source”. Sole source procurement is however only allowed where there is no competition in the market and only one supplier is able to provide the goods or services, which does not appear to be the case here.
“That the sponsorship has not been budgeted for as required by section 53 of the PFMA and the expenditure thereon would be irregular or unauthorised within the meaning of those terms in the PFMA.
“Also, the deal amounts to a “significant partnership transaction” which required my prior approval in terms of Section 54 (2) of the PFMA,” she said.
De Lille also presented timelines to give background and context on the matter.
A presentation from Tottenham was made to a number of SA Tourism officials in December 2022 in South Africa.
- SA Tourism Board members then travelled to London between 12 and 17 January 2023.
- On 27 January 2023 the Board considered the proposed partnership/sponsorship with Tottenham and asked management to address certain aspects and table an amended proposal.
- On 31 January 2023 the matter first appeared in the media on Daily Maverick.
- Later that day, at around 10pm, the SA Tourism Board approved the proposal. The approval was subject to due consultation with the Minister of Tourism and National Treasury.
- On 21 February the matter was also before the Portfolio Committee on Tourism
- On the 21st of February it came to light that three SA Tourism board members handed in their resignation after revelations that interim Chief Financial Officer, Johan van der Walt was linked to the agency set to complete the deal.
Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen and Rosemary Anderson resigned with immediate effect. Then a day later, then Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu appointed new board members. This was questioned by opposition parties saying the right process was not followed. But Sisulu’s spokesperson Steve Motale said legal opinion had been sought before the appointments. Van Der Walt was later suspended.
