SA Tourism board vs De Lille court showdown delayed amid governance and audit turmoil

Banele Ginindza

The legal battle between Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille and the dissolved South African Tourism (SAT) board has been postponed, after the matter—originally set down for hearing on Tuesday—was rescheduled by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The case stems from an urgent application brought by the ousted SAT board challenging De Lille’s August decision to dissolve it, a move the former members allege was procedurally flawed and based on “false pretenses.”

The board maintains that De Lille’s claim of a 1 August meeting, during which it allegedly took unlawful decisions, was fabricated to justify its dissolution and to protect SAT CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe, from accountability.

Former board member Oupa Pilane accused the Minister of “a deliberate falsehood,” insisting that no such meeting took place after the resignation of board chairperson Professor Gregory Davids in late July.

De Lille, however, has defended her actions, saying the board overstepped its mandate by placing Guliwe on precautionary suspension without proper authority or procedure. She argued that the board had no legitimate quorum or chairperson to approve such a decision.

The outcome of the case is expected to have far-reaching implications for governance and oversight in South Africa’s tourism sector, exposing tensions between ministerial oversight and board autonomy.

Meanwhile, the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) reported this week that while the National Department of Tourism (NDT) received a clean audit for the 2024/25 financial year, SAT received a qualified opinion for the second consecutive year.

AGSA tourism portfolio business unit leader, Nompakamo Matanzima, told the Parliamentary portfolio committee on tourism on Monday that SAT’s audit was marred by material misstatements in cash management, marketing expenditure, and irregular spending of R24.2 million due to procurement non-compliance.

Matanzima attributed the persistent audit challenges to key vacancies—particularly the absence of a chief financial officer and chief audit executive—and weak internal controls.

"The audit outcomes remain stagnant. The department itself receives a clean audit consistently with the prior year and this is attributed to stability in leadership and ethical culture," she said. 

"However at the SAT, the audit outcomes remain the same. We have issued a qualified opinion in the prior year for the SAT similar to the prior year. They are also qualified in the current year, meaning audit outcomes remain stagnant, attributable to poor record keeping and lack of discipline in monthly and daily controls."

Matanzima said the matter of stability in senior management and board level had been escalated to De Lille.

"We qualified them on trade payables from exchange transactions, cash generation operations as well as prior pick out areas, all attributable to poor record keeping in daily and monthly controls,"she said.

"On matters of institutional integrity, current leadership and consequence management in the department is very good but in the SAT, there is a lack of instututional integrity from the lack of material regularity and non compliance matters from annual financial statements."

The interim board of SAT has said it would prioritise developing a coherent turnaround strategy and a detailed plan that will focus on ensuring effective and efficient financial management systems, including ensuring a procurement system that is effective, efficient and transparent.

It said it would focus on implementation of forensic report recommendations, which include resolving the ongoing impasse regarding the development of the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains World Heritage Site, filling of critical posts and improving staff morale.

BUSINESS REPORT