Parliament hears dissolution of SA Tourism board illegal
Former SA Tourism board members have told Parliament that Minister Patricia de Lille's dissolution of the board was illegal.
De Lille says the board was disbanded over an unauthorised meeting last month at which it sat without a duly appointed chair.
The board had suspended CEO Nombulelo Guliwe for alleged misconduct over her decision to remove several senior executives, including the chief marketing officer and head of legal.
De Lille on Tuesday insisted to the Portfolio Committee on Tourism that there’s no crisis, telling MPs it’s not the first time her integrity has been questioned.
"The SIU report vindicated me. This time around, it will be no different. I stand here before you fully committed to my oath to obey, respect and uphold the Constitution and all other laws of the Republic.
"I said if there is any evidence about me seeming or are protecting corruption please take the evidence where you are supposed to take it."
But former board member Lawson Naidoo hit back at the minister.
"The crisp issue, I think, facing this committee today is the decision to dissolve the board, rational and lawful and we submit that it was not."
Another former board member, Judi Nwokedi, also disagreed with the minister, stating that SA Tourism sitting without key executives constitutes a crisis.
" Corporate governance is the lighthouse that guides an organisation through the treacherous sea, because we're in Cape Town where the two oceans meet. But at SA Tourism, as a board now dissolved, we have found ourselves adrift."
Ikaneng Pilane said condemning the board for the minister’s own actions is a betrayal of public trust.
"The minister does not want a board. The minister wants to run SAT and is able to by the CEO. We, as these board members, were obstructionist to the minister's agenda that she was pushing."
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