De Lille dissolves SA Tourism board: 'This is political interference on steroids' - OUTA

The Money Show's Stephen Grootes discusses the SA Tourism developments with Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).

​​​The Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, announced the dissolution of the board of SA Tourism on Wednesday afternoon, with immediate effect.

This was sparked by a special board meeting called on 1 August, which de Lille says was convened unlawfully.

At that meeting, held in the absence of a chairperson, it was apparently resolved to suspend SA Tourism CEO Nombulelo Guliwe following findings by the Auditor-General (AG).

This action by de Lille is extreme, comments OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage.

The Organisation believes the Minister should retract the decision or President Cyril Ramaphosa should fire her, he says.

Duvenage describes the board as an excellent one with good governance, charging that de Lille is protecting the CEO.

"We seldom see enough boards on these State entities that have a good mixture representation leadership not filled with politicians or politically connected people, and this board has an array of leaders in the tourism industry... They acted on an Auditor-General report and a forensic report which corroborated the AG's report that there's gross financial misconduct by the CEO."

Wayne Duvenage, CEO - Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse

"They haven't fired Guliwe, they want a disciplinary hearing to take place and run its course... and the Minister, instead of engaging with the board about what's happened, is protecting the CEO."

Wayne Duvenage, CEO - Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse

De Lille's decision to dissolve the board is 'political interference on steroids', Duvenage concludes.

To hear more from the OUTA CEO, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article