Tourism minister to oppose dissolved SA Tourism board court case

Tourism Minister Patricia De Lille has filed a notice of intention to oppose the urgent application by the former SA Tourism board members in the High Court.

“The Minister stands by her decision to dissolve the board. The advice to the minister is that the board exceeded its powers and acted ultra vires,” De Lille’s spokesperson, Aldrin Sampear, told Newsday.

“The minister has filed a notice of intention to oppose the application by the former SA Tourism board members.”

Dissolved SA Tourism board representative, Lawson Naidoo, said that the court case against Tourism Minister Patricia De Lille will force her to reveal the real reason she dissolved the board. 

Speaking to Clement Manyathela on Radio 702, Naidoo alleges that De Lille dissolved the board to protect the SA Tourism CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe.

The board was disbanded over an unlawful meeting on 1 August during which the CEO was suspended for allegations of misconduct.

Naidoo states, however, that this meeting did not happen, and therefore the decision should be overturned. 

The unanimous decision to suspend the CEO was a round-robin resolution in which all members of the board digitally signed a document to affirm their support. 

The board has taken an urgent application to the Gauteng High Court. 

When asked what the board would do if De Lille cited other reasons for dissolving the board in court, such as no confidence, Naidoo said the minister would risk exposing herself if she did that.

“The real reason she dissolved the board is that she was protecting the CEO, who an Auditor General Investigation found was connected to unlawful activities,” he said. 

“She must then explain to South Africa the real reason why she has decided to dissolve the board.” 

Naidoo is not the first to accuse De Lille of protecting Guliwe. Haseena Ismail, DA Spokesperson on Tourism, said that the DA “sees no conclusion other than that De Lille is using her position to protect a rogue CEO,” she said. 

Ismail further accused De Lille of hiding behind a “flawed procedural argument.” The DA demanded that the minister reinstate the board so that independent investigations against the CEO can continue. 

The DA also demanded that De Lille release the Ngubane forensic report outlining the CEO’s alleged irregular expenditure amounting to millions of rands during her time as CFO.

The Auditor General’s findings indicate that Guliwe was implicated in R4.1 million wasted on the failed Dubai Expo project. “Not a cent of this money has been recouped,” said Ismail. 

“The DA will not allow Minister De Lille to escape accountability on this matter. She must explain to South Africans, and to Parliament, why she protects the corrupt and fires those who fight against it.”

In a parliamentary hearing regarding the matter, De Lille was firm in her opposition to the characterisations that she was protecting the CEO.

She said that she lamented the board’s failure to act on the complaints by the company secretary against the CEO.

She said: “I told the board that they failed the company secretary by not processing her grievances. Is that the actions of a minister who wants to protect the CEO?”

“I detest corruption. I am firm on clean governance,” said the minister.

De Lille said she did not block the board from actiing on the allegations of the Ngubane report, but only asked for more information. 

“It’s not the first time my integrity has been questioned,” she said. She explained that 25 years ago, she came under attack with the allegations of corruption she famously brought forward about the shady arms deal case. 

In 2023, the minister said she was vindicated in the R1 billion Tottenham Hotspurs deal. “This time around, it will be no different,” she said. 

A broader pattern of ministerial interference

Wayne Duvanage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), said that De Lille’s justification collapses entirely if the board proves the meeting didn’t take place. 

He added that boards of public entities in South Africa have become “soft landings for political loyalists.”

“Political interference is especially dangerous when it shields executives accused of serious misconduct, sending a clear signal that loyalty protects you and competence gets you fired.”

Duvanage added that, what happened to SA Tourism is not unique. The same “destructive cycle” has been witnessed at Eskom, Transnet, PRASA, SAA and across the SETAs in higher education.

“Either boards are left unchallenged to allow inept or morally bankrupt executives to ply their unethical conduct, or competent boards are sidelined when they threaten entrenched interests,” he said. 

“This pattern of ministerial interference has corroded public trust, driven investment away, and cost the country jobs. De Lille’s decision fits this broader, corrosive trend.”

OUTA has been advocating for the board to take the decision to court and apply for an urgent interdict to reverse the dissolution.

He argued that “courts have a precedent in overturning irrational ministerial decisions.”

A precedent for the case took place in 2018, when former Transport Minister Dipuo Peteres dissolved the Transnet Board. 

According to court documents, members of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) board were removed after the Auditor General uncovered R550 million in irregular expenditure. 

The dissolved PRASA board said at the time that the dissolution directly interfered with internal investigations and was actually prompted by the board’s termination of the then-group CEO. 

The Gauteng High Court ordered that the decision be overturned and the directors be reinstated.