SA Tourism has received a qualified audit opinion for the third consecutive year with its new Board committed to addressing ongoing weaknesses in financial reporting, internal controls and accountability.
The Auditor-General of South Africa presented the findings for the 2025/26 financial year to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Tourism on October 6.
SA Tourism’s qualification related to insufficient supporting evidence for adjustments to accumulated surplus and inadequate disclosure of corrections to financial statements from previous years.
The Auditor-General also identified weaknesses in financial controls and consequence management, including failures to investigate alleged financial misconduct in accordance with Treasury regulations.
The committee heard that the late appointment of SA Tourism’s CFO, Lorato Sithole, earlier this year limited the organisation’s ability to address the audit outcome issues.
Speaking to the committee, SA Tourism’s new Board Chairperson Graham Wood said there is a plan in place to address the findings and he is confident SA Tourism could achieve an unqualified audit in the current financial year.
Wood said the Board, appointed in August, met with Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille to review its audit action plan and requested technical assistance to resolve the outstanding accounting issues.
SA Tourism has agreed on a remediation plan with the Auditor-General, including obtaining an independent technical opinion on historical accounting errors, strengthening financial controls and improving its financial reporting processes.
The committee called for SA Tourism’s audit action plan to be submitted within 30 days.
The repeated audit findings also have financial consequences. SA Tourism confirmed that it received no voluntary tourism levy funding during the financial year as the funding agreement is linked to achieving an unqualified audit opinion.
Leadership instability is another concern. SA Tourism CEO Nombulelo Guliwe remains suspended and the prolonged process contributing to uncertainty within the organisation.
Wood told the committee that the Board will consider the matter at its scheduled October meetings before making a recommendation to the Minister of Tourism.
