Spokesperson for Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Steve Motale, has dismissed the report by the Daily Maverick that it had documents that purport to show SA Tourism preparing to ink a sponsorship deal with the English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspurs as riddled with inaccuracies aimed at tarnishing the minister’s image.
The newspaper report had suggested that the South African government is considering a R1 billion sponsorship deal with the club.
Motale says that the minister was not even expected at the board meeting by SA Tourism which was held on Tuesday.
“The SA Tourism board, like any other board, is an independent entity and the minister does not interfere at all in its decision-making processes. For that matter they are saying in their own report that this deal pre-dates the minister’s deployment to tourism. They’re mentioning that the deal started in 2017. It was not her initiative. The minister found out about it a few months ago, definitely questions were asked. She does know about it, but she has not been formally briefed as to the nitty gritties thereof,” says Motale.
VIDEO: Tourism Department reaction to Daily Maverick report:
