Hello, Tourism boss, questioning how our money is spent is not treasonous

It is worrying, but not at all surprising, that SA Tourism (SAT) acting CEO Themba Khumalo went on to the attack on Thursday after news that his organisation is about to close a deal to spend almost R1 billion over the next three years sponsoring football team Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.

Threatening unspecified consequences for the person, or persons, who “maliciously” leaked details of the planned deal, following a SAT board meeting earlier this week, Khumalo accused the whistle-blower of possibly breaching conditions of employment.

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But worse, he said the person was “un-South African”… thereby using the cover of patriotism to justify spending the money meant to improve the lives of ordinary people.

Patriotism, as the old saying goes, is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

No-one is saying Khumalo is nefarious, but his angry reaction indicated more than a degree of discomfort that the scheme had been revealed before it could be implemented and, naturally, that the general reaction of South Africans had been negative.

Shooting the messenger is a favoured response of politicians when they have been caught doing things they shouldn’t and this row smacks of that.

Had the organisation been more transparent, things might have been different.

After all, Khumalo made valid points in explaining the rationale behind the deal. SAT’s money is allocated specifically for promoting the country.

READ MORE: R1bn Spurs deal: Tourism expert says sponsorship will benefit SA but DA says it’s ‘lunacy’

So it would not have filled potholes or stocked hospitals anyway.

The English Premier League does offer a massive audience for a brand to get across its message.

However, the jury is still out on whether there might be better ways of spending the marketing money.

And, Mr Khumalo, it is not treasonous to question government on how (our) money is spent.