Members of the recently dissolved SA Tourism Board have described their dismissal as a “profound act of betrayal”, accusing Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille of ministerial overreach and a “pattern of leadership paralysis” in failing to act on serious allegations of misconduct against former CEO Nombulelo Guliwe.
In a fiery all-day session before Parliament’s Tourism Portfolio Committee yesterday (September 2), the minister defended her decision to dissolve the Board.
De Lille maintained that she disbanded the Board following the convening of a disputed August 1 meeting when the decision to suspend Guliwe was allegedly made. De Lille has described the meeting – which the dissolved Board claims never took place – as unlawful as it was not presided over by a Chairperson following the resignation of Gregory Davids at the end of the Board’s quarterly meeting on July 31. The Board claims Guliwe was suspended after a unanimously adopted digital round-robin resolution.
“I cautioned the Board against convening meetings that are unprocedural – that special and ordinary meetings were being called without due process being followed. This undermines the integrity of the Board and renders any outcomes from such meetings procedurally invalid,” De Lille told the Tourism Portfolio Committee.
Leadership paralysis
Members of the dissolved Board and tourism industry associations have accused De Lille of ministerial overreach and shielding Guliwe from allegations of financial misconduct and unfair labour practices linked to the suspension of SA Tourism’s Company Secretary and Chief Marketing Officer.
Addressing the Tourism Portfolio Committee, Judi Nwokedi, former Chair of the dissolved Board’s Human Capital and Remuneration Committee, claimed the root cause of the troubles at SA Tourism was a continuous pattern of non-responsiveness and inaction by former Chairperson Davids who was subject to a vote of no confidence by the Board on July 17.
“In fact, there was what we would call a triangulation happening between the Minister, the Chairperson and the CEO, and all of us were rendered irrelevant. The vote of no confidence was a necessary action to protect the Board’s credibility and uphold its mandate in the face of a leadership paralysis: the Chairperson’s persistent inaction and failure to fulfil his fiduciary responsibilities. This then led to management and Board levels of dysfunctionality.”
Nwokedi said Davids failed to act on multiple grievances laid against the CEO, including bullying and intimidation, dating back as far as December last year.
She countered De Lille’s claims that SA Tourism is not facing a crisis.
“As we sit here today, SA Tourism, the body charged with the marketing of South Africa, sits without a CEO, a Chief Marketing Officer, a Company Secretary, Head of Legal and many other key executive management and senior management positions. This has not only led to a major loss of institutional memory and the ability to execute but it is a crisis.”
De Lille was additionally criticised for her failure to acknowledge the former Board’s request, in its vote of no confidence in Davids, to urgently take steps to appoint a new Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson. The Deputy Chairperson position remained unfilled since David’s appointment in September 2024.
“The Tourism Act is very clear, in its prescriptive nature, that the Minister must appoint a Chair and a Deputy Chair. The Minister claims unlawfulness by the Board and yet did not perform her functions. To now blame the Board for her own dereliction of her own duty is a betrayal of public trust,” said Oupa Pilane, former Chairperson of the dissolved Board’s Marketing Committee.
De Lille claimed she did not appoint a Deputy Chairperson last year due to “factions” within the Board.
Failure to act on forensic investigation
A forensic report commissioned in 2024, and presented to the dissolved Board in April this year, recommended consequence management against Guliwe for her alleged role in an irregular R4.2 million transaction in 2021 when she was CFO.
Miller Matola, former Interim Chairperson of the dissolved Board’s Audit Committee, said Davids accepted the findings and concurrence was sought from De Lille who requested further information.
“The information was submitted, I believe, on numerous occasions and, as we have indicated to date, we had not received any indication from the Minister until we were dissolved,” said Matola.
De Lille claimed the current situation will have “zero impact” on government’s planned tourism programmes as the country kicks off Tourism Month activities and prepares for the hosting of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
“The current group of six interim Board members will process all matters related to the CEO. Just last week, I met with the industry who continued to show support for the monitoring and the implementation of the five pillars of the Tourism Growth Partnership Plan,” she said.
