Patricia de Lille under fire

Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille has come under renewed criticism over the events in her department, including the Tourism Equity Fund (TEF) and the recent dissolution of the South African Tourism Board.

She was absent from the latest Parliamentary Portfolio Committee meeting reviewing the department’s financial results, sending apologies due to an overseas trip.

During the meeting, the Auditor-General reported that the department received a clean audit, but committee members raised concerns about alleged failings.

De Lille’s decision to dissolve the tourism board drew particular attention.

The Minister said the board was dissolved following allegations of ill-governance, including an unauthorised meeting to suspend CEO Nombulelo Guliwe.

The board, however, denied that such a meeting occurred, stating that the CEO was suspended through a round-robin resolution after serious allegations of financial mismanagement.

uMkhonto weSizwe MP Shunmagum Ramsamy Moodley said, “Something needs to be done. She fires people willy-nilly without consulting us. If we don’t do anything about it now, tourism will never work properly.”

EFF MP Reneiloe Mashabela added that the entity has “an incompetent CEO who is overprotected by the minister to the point where she dissolved the board to save that CEO,” calling the situation “destroying SA Tourism.”

Mashabela also criticised the Minister’s failure to fill critical vacancies, such as Chief Financial Officer, arguing it may be an attempt to “shield mismanagement from oversight.”

Criticism from civil society

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) described the dissolution as “not just reckless, but a symptom of the rot that continues to spread through our institutions.”

OUTA CEO Wayne Duvanage told Newsday that while the court did not grant an urgent interdict to the dissolved board, this does not weaken the case.

“We maintain she did overreach and has interfered without going through her board on significant matters. This will all be tested in the courts in due course,” Duvanage said.

De Lille welcomed the court’s decision on 16 October, saying, “I’ve been vindicated, but I always knew that I was acting within the prescript of the law and followed the law to the letter.”

She has already gazetted a new advertisement for board members, adding, “Then, certainly, we can avoid all of these problems that we have experienced in the past.”

The Minister said she hopes only South Africans willing to serve the government will respond to the board appointments.

However, committee members, including the DA’s Haseena Ismail, continue to voice concerns.

She told Newsday that the Minister “dodged the committee’s questions on what legal advice she had relied on and why she failed to appoint a deputy chair of the board.”

Ismail also criticised de Lille for denying that her actions disrupted the tourism industry, saying her overreach has cost SA Tourism hundreds of millions in funding.

Political tensions

The DA has referred the Minister to the Public Protector for investigation, alleging abuse of power in dissolving the board.

The committee also highlighted missing documents, including the legal advice underpinning the board’s dissolution and the presentation used during a previous parliamentary hearing.

These omissions have heightened concerns about transparency and accountability within the department.

De Lille’s controversies extend to the Tourism Equity Fund, where only R125 million of the R466 million allocated was disbursed, supporting youth-owned, rural, and township tourism enterprises.

Ismail described a parliamentary meeting on the matter as “an open admission of failure, mismanagement, and a department that has completely lost control.”

Conflict between de Lille and the DA dates back to her tenure as Cape Town mayor in 2017, during which infighting resulted in four court cases and accusations of corruption, which de Lille has consistently denied.

In a recent interview on Palatable Politics, she said that internal conflicts in the DA led to personal and political battles, but she has always maintained her integrity, saying, “I hate that. I don’t want to even smell corruption. I’ve been fighting corruption my whole life.”

Despite mounting criticism, de Lille has stood firm on her decisions, asserting that the tourism industry is on an upward trajectory and promising to comply with investigations while challenging the dissolved board’s legal application.

“She is in denial over the significant negative effects of her actions, and unwilling to be transparent,” Ismail said, highlighting the ongoing political friction.