MPs ‘played to the gallery’, have no real power to stop Spurs deal

MPs in the tourism portfolio committee are being accused of playing politics and overreacting when they summoned SA Tourism executives and Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to explain themselves, following an outcry over the pricy Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal.

Tables turned in the African National Congress (ANC) RET faction camp when committee chairperson Tandi Mahambehlala turned against ally and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu this week, telling her that the contentious R1 billion deal with British team Tottenham Hotspurs will not go ahead.

MPs lay into Sisulu

Not only did Mahambehlala instruct Sisulu to scrap the deal, but she along with other committee members accused the minister of disrespecting protocol and parliamentary processes.

ALSO READ: Spending R1bn on Tottenham Spurs partnership deal not ‘justified’ – Ramaphosa

After she arrived late for the committee meeting, Sisulu insisted she didn’t know about the proposed sponsorship, however, adding that only President Cyril Ramaphosa had the power to put a stop to it, and not Parliament.

Sisulu, who has an icy relationship with the committee because of her tendency to skip its caucuses, denied snubbing the meeting saying she had attended a Cabinet gathering that started at 9am.

The minister left the meeting 30 minutes later, saying she had to depart because of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) scheduled to happen on Thursday evening.

“The madam says she’s leaving because it’s the eve of Sona. I don’t know what that means,” Mahambehlala said in response to Sisulu leaving.

MPs ‘overreaching’

Reacting to the committee meeting, University of Johannesburg’s Professor Siphamandla Zondi said it seemed the MPs were under pressure to be seen to be doing something about the proposed deal, despite not really having the power to do so.

“It does seem as if they overreached. They may feel the pressure to be seen to be acting on this matter of concern, but they know that the president and the auditor-general have mandates to put a spanner in the works.

“They are not mandated to decide on this matter. But the gallery is crucial for politicians generally,” he said.

Deal economically warranted

According to analyst Sandile Swana, the deal would make economic merit outside of politics.

He said because Sisulu was seen as an unwanted member in the ANC’s top structures and anti-Ramaphosa, the ruckus around the deal has become a “good tool” for her opponents in the governing party.

“There are allegations that the CFO might have been compromised through a potential conflict of interest. There are governance structures within SA Tourism to deal with conflicts of interest in the normal course of business – such as internal procedures and other things.

“Once you conflate and create an impression that the whole deal, the conflict of interest and the economics of the partnership must be one decision – which is where we are now – then you would have a problem like this.”

Swana added that it remains unknown as to how the Tottenham Hotspurs issue reached the parliamentary committee before it properly went through the ministry and SA Tourism.

“So, there is a lot of hype and drama around this issue, which is very unfortunate. And I also think there a many mistakes around this deal and a lot of harassment.

“A commercial decision needed to be made by the board. When you listen to professors at the University of Pretoria’s Gibs Business School, they saw good merit in the deal. If we were to subject this to professionals in tourism and sports marketing who are not part of political factions, the deal would have been a strong contender to make the cut.”

DA accuses tourism entity of ‘witchhunt’

Meanwhile, SA Tourism announced on Wednesday that it has launched a probe to find out who leaked the documents about the sponsorship deal to the media.

READ MORE: SA Tourism board trying to hunt down Tottenham deal whistleblower

“The SA Tourism board has deliberated and resolved that a forensic investigation on the leaking of the SA Tourism board discussions be conducted,” the agency said in a statement.

Democratic Alliance (DA) said the investigation disregarded the plight of whistleblowers who are always maligned and intimidated.

“It is completely misplaced for them to go after the whistleblower. This strengthens the notion that had this information not been leaked, they would have gone forward with the deal and in all probability, it would have been announced at Sona tomorrow [Thursday],” said MP Manny de Freitas.

SA Tourism has defended the deal ,claiming that it would get R88 million as a return on investment over a three-year period.

Three board members have since tendered their resignations after allegations surfaced that CFO Johan van der Walt has ties to an agency that would have cashed in from the R1 billion sponsorship.

The three ex-board members are Cape Town Tourism’s long-time CEO Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen, a former COO of Tsogo Sun Hotels, now Southern Sun Hotels and Rosemary Anderson who’s the national chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa).

NOW READ: Sisulu denies snubbing parliamentary meeting over R1bn Spurs sponsorship