Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Tourism has voiced frustration at the absence of Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille from consecutive committee meetings dealing with audit outcomes, performance reports as well as contractual and legal issues at the Department of Tourism and SA Tourism.
De Lille has not attended a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting since September 2 when MPs questioned her decision to dissolve the former SA Tourism Board.
The meetings that have taken place since then covered, among other topics, the annual audit outcomes and annual reports of the Department of Tourism and SA Tourism as well as overviews of SA Tourism’s active and closed contracts and court cases.
In a media statement, Committee Chairperson Ronalda Nomalunga confirmed that the committee will write to National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza to inform her of De Lille’s absence. Most of the meetings have been attended by Deputy Tourism Minister Maggie Sotyu.
“We are speaking, week after week, to ourselves and not to the minister. When we are seeking answers where we need to hold entities accountable, there are times where the minister is the only person that would be able to answer certain things. We need the minister to be in our meetings,” Nomalunga said at the opening of the latest committee meeting on November 11 when SA Tourism was scheduled to present an updated report on active contracts.
MPs requested a revised presentation after raising concerns about the level of detail provided on 123 active contractual agreements totalling R2.675 billion (US$156.4 million). The report was not presented at the November 11 meeting as it was submitted to committee members with insufficient notice.
“The committee was supposed to engage with SA Tourism but, unfortunately, only received the entity’s presentation before the meeting yesterday, which did not give the committee enough time to familiarise itself with the contents. SA Tourism was accompanied by the deputy minister who was unable to provide any information as she is not responsible for the entity,” Nomalunga said in a statement issued on November 13.
Oversight rendered ‘ineffective’
Nomalunga raised additional concern that De Lille was not present to answer numerous questions from MPs regarding SA Tourism’s qualified audit outcomes and governance struggles.
“SA Tourism receives more than 50% of the budget allocated to the tourism vote. Therefore clean audits by the Department of Tourism are meaningless if the minister continues to ignore governance issues and malfeasance at the entity.”
The committee was also “aggrieved” at the minister’s failure to provide requested documentation that supported her reasoning for the dissolution of the former SA Tourism Board.
“This has happened despite numerous attempts by the committee requesting her to do so. This, coupled with her office delaying sending presentations on time and her continuous absence at meetings dealing with critical governance issues at SA Tourism, renders the oversight work of the committee ineffective.”
Minister’s response
Responding to the committee’s concerns, De Lille’s spokesperson Aldrin Sampear said the interim Board appointed by the minister is conducting the necessary oversight functions.
“The minister appointed a competent team of six people who are managing the affairs of SA Tourism. They are capable of dealing with the governance issues and regularly update the minister,” Sampear said.
He disputed suggestions of prolonged non-attendance, noting that the minister has hosted MPs at the Department of Tourism offices on October 7.
