This week, President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to meet with Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to discuss a contentious three-year, multimillion-pound sponsorship arrangement with Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League.
The gathering comes after extensive conversations Sisulu had over the weekend with South African Tourism (SAT) board members.
“On Saturday, the board thoroughly informed her on the arrangement. The president must now be informed as the next move. In the next days, she will meet with the president, after which an announcement will be made,” Steve Motale, a spokesperson for Sisulu, stated.
Ramaphosa still needed to get a briefing on the idea, according to spokesperson for the presidency Vincent Magwenya, and he had no intention of making the announcement at the State of the Nation Address.
Magwenya said the Presidency did not think “spending so much money in the manner that is being suggested will be justified”.
SA Tourism proposed the deal, worth £42.5 million (about R900 million), starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 season and concluding at the end of the 2026/27 season.
In exchange for the whopping investment, SA Tourism will receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.
It came under heavy criticism during a media briefing on Thursday.