Parliament’s tourism portfolio committee has called on Patricia De Lille to remove two of the three people she appointed as the interim South African Tourism board (SAT).
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Appearing before the committee for the first time as minister, MPs clashed with De Lille, demanding that she dismiss former DA MP Tim Harris and businessman Zwelibanzi Mntambo because of a conflict of interest.
De Lille appointed Harris, Mntambo and Kholeka Zama for a three-month period following her dissolution of the SAT board over the proposed R1 billion partnership deal with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, which did not comply with the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act.
Earlier this week, ANC and EFF MPs said it was inappropriate for the minister to appoint Harris due to their previous working relationship in the City of Cape Town.
‘You have two members of the board coming from Wesgro (Western Cape Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), and Tim Harris served under you in Cape Town. It’s like you are bringing in a friend,’ said EFF MP Anthony Matumba.
‘He’s a politician and is highly invested in SAT. Last year he wrote an email to SAT, even to junior staff members, asking for funds for the World Surfing League for a certain individual, so he’s someone who is already involved in SAT.’
‘It will be a conflict of interest if he serves there. Something should have told you this guy is highly involved. How do people who served in one organisation serve in this board?’
Matumba’s views were reinforced by Committee Chair Tandi Mahambehlala (ANC), who said the appointments of Harris and Mntambo ‘border on reputational risk and conflict of interests’.
Mahambehlala also took exception to the appointment of ‘a billionaire’ to the board, adding that Mntambo was among the ‘top 30 billionaires in the country’.
‘You must consider the shortcomings tabled by members on the two people you have appointed. You can’t have those two people in the interim board. You must replace them because a conflict of interest is there,’ Mahambehlala told the minister.
‘Were there no other people who are qualified to run an entity? Why appoint a billionaire?’ she asked.
However, De Lille defended the appointments, stating that they were based on their skillset.
‘The DG and I agreed we need three skills, namely finance, governance and tourism expertise.’
‘We consulted widely with the tourism sector and some people were saying “we won’t touch that, I’ve got a reputation to protect”, and we had to get the names as soon as possible.’
‘We looked at not where people are coming from but at the necessary skills we were looking for,’ she said.
However, despite her explanation, MPs pushed De Lille to remove the two men.
‘I respect parliament and fully respect the wishes and concerns of the members,’ she emphasised. ‘I will consider your concerns but you cannot instruct me what to do. I will leave here and (look at) the whole picture inclusively but nobody can instruct me.’
‘I am also not going to get into character assassination of anybody. We are dealing with professional people here and we have explained that we were simply looking for finance and governance experience and tourism expertise and those were the three people.’
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Picture: Patricia de Lille / Facebook