By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Tourism minister Patricia De Lille has defended her decision to dissolve the board of SA Tourism, citing unlawful conduct and procedural violations.
De Lille and members of the dissolved board of SA Tourism appeared before parliament’s tourism portfolio committee on Tuesday.
This is after De Lille dissolved the board with immediate effect having accused it of holding an illegal meeting on August 1.
At the meeting the board placed CEO Nombulelo Guliwe on precautionary suspension for being part of a team that authorised an unlawful R4.1m prepayment to an SA Tourism supplier who failed to do the work.
De Lille is accusing the board of unlawful decision-making, reckless financial management, and undermining the credibility of the country’s tourism sector.
She said her decision to dissolve the board earlier this year was not only justified but necessary to protect taxpayers’ money and restore good governance at the state-owned entity.
“Every law in this country matters. Every cent of the taxpayers matters. And part of protecting the public purse is to ensure due process and governance is non-negotiable, “she told MPs.
De Lille revealed that the board had acted outside its legal mandate when it passed a resolution granting one of its members the authority of chairperson.
“The board acted unlawfully, it exceeded its powers when it took a resolution dated 1st August… the very meeting where the impugned resolution was taken did not follow the lawful procedure in terms of section 18.2 of the Tourism Act,” she said.
The minister also flagged the board’s suspension of Guliwe, carried out without her concurrence, as further proof of its disregard for governance laws. She stressed that she had been awaiting proper legal guidance on the CEO matter, yet the board “chose to act unilaterally and unlawfully.”
Beyond governance issues, De Lille blasted the former board for reckless spending. She said nearly R900,000 of the R1.44 million annual budget for board operations had been consumed in just six months, largely through frequent meetings and extensions of contracts that had already lapsed.
“There’s been continuous governance failures by the dissolved board,” she said, adding that the financial management practices “put at risk the very sustainability of SAT.”
The minister pointed to the Auditor General’s findings, which raised concerns about persistent vacancies in senior management positions — vacancies the board had been instructed to fill but failed to address.
De Lille assured Parliament and industry stakeholders that the collapse of the board would not derail the tourism sector’s growth path. She confirmed that she had appointed six South Africans with strong governance backgrounds to manage SAT’s affairs until a new permanent board is appointed.
“I want to assure this portfolio committee there’s no crisis. I have appointed a group of six South Africans to handle the affairs of South African Tourism up until I have appointed a permanent board,” she said.
Former SAT board member Lawson Naidoo told MPs that the minister’s reasons for dissolving the board were contradictory and procedurally flawed.
He argued that what De Lille labelled an “unlawful meeting” was in fact a round-robin resolution, a legitimate mechanism when members cannot assemble.
“There was no meeting on 1 August. Yet the Minister relies on this claim in her dissolution letter. We were denied the chance to respond to the reasons ultimately used to dissolve us. The audi alteram partem rule was violated,” Naidoo said.
He also rejected the claim that he had acted alone.
“All decisions were unanimous, communicated via WhatsApp and email. I was never an acting chair — only a representative to coordinate communication. Everything I did was with the board’s full mandate,” he said.
Jolene Kelly, former chair of SAT’s human capital and remuneration committee, painted a bleak picture of the agency.
She said staff morale was in crisis, with a string of suspensions, grievances, and resignations hollowing out the institution.
“SAT currently has no CEO, no Company Secretary, no Head of Legal, and no CFO. This is a major loss of institutional memory and the ability to execute. It is a crisis,” Kelly said.
This, she argued, left the board ineffective and forced members to pass a vote of no confidence.
Former board member Oupa Pilane said the governance failures De Lille cited stemmed from her own neglect of statutory duties.
He accused the minister of ignoring the Tourism Act’s requirement to appoint both a chairperson and deputy chairperson, leaving the board rudderless.
“It took nine months for her to do what the law prescribes. If there was a deputy chair, none of this would have happened. Condemning the board for her own dereliction is disingenuous,”Pilane said.
Pilane further charged that De Lille interfered directly in SAT operations, holding meetings with executives and approving staff travel without board involvement.
Former SAT board chair Makhosazana Khanyile told MPs the Minister’s narrative was “misleading and defamatory.”
She said neither she nor deputy chair Lizelle Haskins were removed from the board—only from leadership roles, after De Lille publicly inflated meeting numbers and miscast governance costs as board fees.
Khanyile said the board held two quarterly and 11 special meetings, most at management’s request for statutory approvals or urgent reporting, and that the R900 000 figure cited by the Minister covered broader governance expenses (travel, accommodation, training, insurance).
All this is taking place as South Africa marks Tourism Month in September.
Meanwhile the Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Haseena Ismail said, the party calls on De Lille to come clean – and will use PAIA to expose the truth if she refuses.
Ismail said, “She must stop hiding behind empty procedural arguments and tell the country why she interfered, why she ignored the law by failing to appoint a Deputy Chairperson to the Board, and why she continues to protect an individual with such a damning track record.
South Africans deserve straight answers and not more spin from a Minister who looks increasingly complicit in a cover-up. If De Lille cannot provide a full and honest account of her actions, she is not fit to remain in office, added Ismail.
The DA will also be submitting a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application for:
- The Ngubane forensic report into the CEO.
- The legal advice the Minister relied on to dissolve the Board.
- All communication between the Minister and the Board.
- Internal Board communication on disciplinary action against the CEO.
- All communication between the Minister and SA Tourism management.
Committee chairperson Ronalda Nalumango (ANC) said the meeting had been called to get to the bottom of the unfolding situation.
Nalumango said, the committee will seek the legal advice on the dissolution of board, will also treat the matter as sub judice, that its if the dissolved board decides to take legal action and she committed the committee will not “sweep everything under the carpet”.