By REGINALD KANYANE
14 August 2025- The Minister of Tourism, Patricia De Lille, has noted information in the public domain regarding the precautionary suspension of the CEO of the South African Tourism, Nombulelo Guliwe by the SA Tourism board.
De Lille said according to the legal advice, this decision by the SA Tourism Board is unlawful.
She further said as of 31 July 2025, the South African Tourism Board, does not have a Board Chairperson following the resignation of Professor Gregory Davids. De Lille added that this means the board in its current form is not properly constituted to take such a resolution.
“However, we remain committed to ensure the adherence to sound governance principles at South African Tourism and will address the above with the board,” said de Lille.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson on Tourism and Member of Parliament (MP), Haseena Ismail said they have called on de Lille to urgently account to Parliament following the precautionary suspension of Guliwe.
Ismail said instead of focusing on the serious allegations against Guliwe, she has focused on whether the Board had the authority to suspend her without a Chairperson, a distraction that risks letting the CEO off the hook.
“The DA is committed to due process. However, it cannot be that the Minister attacks the board while giving no attention to serious allegations against the CEO.
“This forms part of an unfortunate pattern, where the Minister has abdicated responsibility for disciplinary issues in her Department, only intervening once the damage is done,” she said.
Ismail said SA Tourism, which takes up the vast majority of the Department’s budget, has been a consistent problem for tourism in South Africa. She said despite overspending on its already significant budget, it failed to meet 11% of its performance targets last year.
“These are not the hallmarks of an agency in good health. We cannot allow yet another year of underperformance from SA Tourism, at the expense of other job-creating programmes like Working on Tourism.
“Three years of acting CEOs, from 2021 to 2024, significantly destabilised the entity. The Minister must act quickly to steady the ship, by allowing an independent, transparent, and swift investigation to take place, and taking action accordingly,” said Ismail.
She said the DA is in government to fight for jobs and growth. Ismail said tourism is vital to both and if de Lille would not make sure their entities are working, they will.
Picture: Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille
The Guardian 