THE Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding answers on the alleged report that Mzansi government plans to sponsor the English Premier League club, Tottenham Hotspur with R1 billion to “attract tourist”.
This comes after? Daily Maverick? reported on Wednesday, 1 February it had documents that purport to show South African Tourism is preparing to ink a sponsorship deal with Tottenham.
DA shadow minister of tourism Manny de Freitas said the sponsorship was a slap in the face of every South African whose hard-earned tax will be used to sponsor a first-world football team.
Freitas said it’s also an insult for the South African tourism and travel sector which was decimated, and in many cases completely destroyed, during and post Covid.
“A delegation from DA Abroad will this week go to the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in London to ascertain exactly what the status of this deal is and if any money has exchanged hands. The DA will do everything in our power to oppose this lunacy,” she said.
She said that this idea is even worse than the money allocated for the ANC’s comrades in Cuba, an effort that was stopped by Solidarity in the courts. “Our country is in a power crisis. Consumers are being crushed by inflation. “There’s no way the ANC will be able to condone such a decision in the 2024 election, not even among its staunchest supporters,” she said.
ActionSA also said they rejected the proposed R1 billion that Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and her tourism department, through its marketing agency SA Tourism, are trying to push through with haste.
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“At a time when South Africa is facing an unprecedented energy crisis and rampant crime, scarce state resources should be used to address the most pressing needs in the nation,” said ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba.
He said that if government wants to attract sustainable tourism to South Africa, they need to start by fixing these issues not just an expensive PR campaign with questionable benefit.
Meanwhile, minister Sisulu said the news article detailing a R1 billion proposal to sponsor Tottenham is riddled with inaccuracies and untruths aimed at tarnishing her image.
She said she has not been formally briefed on the deal because the matter is purely an SAT board deal.
