By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Tourism (SAT) CEO Nombulelo Guliwe has been placed on precautionary suspension by the board with immediate effect, following allegations of misconduct.
SAT is the national tourism agency responsible for the marketing of South Africa as a preferred tourist destination.
But the Department of Tourism says the action taken by the nine-member Board underscores the gravity of the situation as they embark on a thorough investigation into the claims against Guliwe.
Guliwe, a qualified Chartered Accountant, was appointed to the CEO position for a five-year period in February 2024 following a comprehensive recruitment process.
In a brief statement, the department said De Lille has noted the decision by the board and said it was “unlawful”.
“As of 31 July 2025, the South African Tourism Board does not have a board chairperson following the resignation of Professor Gregory Davids. This means, the board in its current form is not properly constituted to take such a resolution,” said the department.
“Minister de Lille, remains committed to ensuring the adherence to sound governance principles at South African Tourism and will address the above with the board.”
Fullview learnt that De Lille has written to board and given it until 8pm on Thursday night to explain why it should not be dissolved.
SA Tourism was recently plunged into a tender scandal after allegations of irregularities in the awarding of a R100 million tender to Pomme Express,
SAT has disputed is the awarding of a R100 million event management tender to an inexperienced company for Meetings Africa and Africa’s Travel Indaba.
SAT said an independent forensic investigation into the event management tender was initiated in December 2024 and is currently underway.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his latest letter to the nation published on Monday (13 January), highlighted the importance of the tourism sector – especially since the country is to host the G20 Summit, which is expected to be the biggest tourism driver in the continent.
The tourism sector is a significant contributor to growth and employment in South Africa (Ramaphosa said in 2023 the country recorded around 8.5 million international tourist arrivals, with these visitors spending over R95 billion).
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to South Africa’s GDP was 8.2% in 2023.
The sector is also a big employer, employing 1.46 million people in 2023, with expectations that this will have grown to 1.7 million jobs in 2024 once the data is in.