South African Tourism's acting chief executive officer Themba Khumalo speaks at a press conference, 2 February 2023, in Sandton, justifying the body's plans to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the Presidency has not been briefed on South African Tourism’s planned R1-billion sponsorship of English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspurs.
There is also no plan to include an announcement on this deal in the State of the Nation Address, said Magwenya.
“Even though we have not been briefed, we do not think that spending such an amount in this manner will be justifiable.”
Tourism South Africa has been at the receiving end of criticism after announcing on Thursday that it was exploring a partnership with Tottenham Hotspurs FC, among other projects, to achieve 21 million international tourist arrivals by 2030.
“As part of the research, South African Tourism sought to understand the success of high-impact sporting partnerships and how destinations have benefited from such collaborations. A number of destinations, globally, have entered into sports partnerships and these have yielded high returns, in terms of tourist arrivals,” it said.
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“South African Tourism has chosen to explore a partnership with Tottenham Hotspurs FC for a number of reasons, particularly as the United Kingdom is one of South Africa’s key source markets, as per the entity’s Marketing Prioritisation Investment Framework (MPIF). Furthermore, sport is one platform that has sustained aggregated audiences, which the entity can tap into to convert fans and spectators into tourists.”
Although South African Tourism has not “finalised” the deal, political parties and South Africans have called on deal to not reach that far.
eNCA reported on Friday that three South African Tourism board members have since resigned.
Meanwhile, an urgent meeting by the Tourism Portfolio Committee to discuss the controversial Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal has been confirmed to take place on Tuesday 7 February 2023.
According to Manny de Freitas, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism, the committee will have the opportunity to interrogate SA Tourism about the pending deal.
The revelation today that SA Tourism’s interim CFO has ties to the agency that would cash in on this deal, makes this meeting urgent and critical.
“Yesterday’s press briefing by Themba Khumalo, the Acting CEO of SA Tourism, has left more questions than answers. The DA will demand answers on, amongst other things, if Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was aware of the deal? We also want a confirmation of the exact figures involved in this deal,” said De Freitas.
“The DA believes that sports teams are not required to promote South Africa. This money must be used to to buy diesel to alleviate load shedding, or go to tourism infrastructure.”
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