Three SA Tourism board members resign with immediate effect amid Tottenham proposal

The South African government is seeking to seal a sponsorship deal with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.

• Three members of the South African tourism board have resigned.
• Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen and Rosemary Anderson have resigned, effective immediately.
• The resignations were announced days after details of Tottenham Hotspur’s controversial sponsorship proposal were revealed.

Three members of the South African tourism board have resigned amid Tottenham Hotspur’s controversial sponsorship proposal.

Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen and Rosemary Anderson have resigned, effective immediately.

South African Tourism Board Chairman Aubrey Mhlongo confirmed the resignations, specifically acknowledging Duminy and Nadasen, who were serving their third term.

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu accepted the resignations. The process of designating “suitable replacements” is underway.

The resignations were announced shortly after reports that SA Tourism’s interim chief financial officer, Johan van der Walt, was, in a story first published in the daily hipsterlinked to an agency identified in Tottenham’s controversial sponsorship proposal.

SA Tourism has proposed a three-year contract with the English Premier League club, worth £42.5 million (around R900 million), starting at the start of the 2023-’24 season and ending at the end of the 2026-’27 season.

READ | SA tourism CFO linked to agency linked to controversial Tottenham Hotspur deal

SA Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match day publicity, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa and free access to stadium tickets and hospitality.

The deal was challenged by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office earlier this week.

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