Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille has dissolved the SA Tourism board with immediate effect.
Why Patricia de Lille dissolved the SA Tourism board
The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon, 20 August 2025.
The decision followed a special board meeting that the ministry says was held unlawfully on 1 August 2025.
According to the Tourism Ministry, only the chairperson of the board is allowed by law to call such a meeting. But the board no longer had a chairperson after Professor Gregory Davids resigned on 31 July 2025.
Despite this, members still went ahead and held the meeting, which the minister says they had no legal power to do.
What the law says about dissolving the board
The Tourism Act, which is the law that governs how SA Tourism operates, gives the minister power to dissolve the board if there is “good cause.”
In this case, De Lille said the board had ignored legal procedures when it organised the special meeting, making all the decisions taken at that meeting unlawful.
Her spokesperson, Aldrin Sampear, explained that she had asked members to explain in writing why the board should not be dissolved. Their response, sent on 14 August 2025, did not address the legality of the meeting.
On this basis, De Lille formally dissolved the board on 19 August 2025.
Recent controversy inside SA Tourism
The move comes just a week after the SA Tourism board suspended CEO Nombulelo Guliwe over misconduct allegations.
Guliwe, who previously worked as the organisation’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), was accused of authorising a R4.1 million advance payment to a service provider for the failed Dubai Expo project during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reports said the payment was made even though the event did not go ahead.
Some observers believe this controversy added more tension between the minister and the board, eventually leading to the dissolution.
Minister De Lille said she would start the process of appointing a new board and would invite nominations of qualified people.
In the meantime, she will appoint temporary managers under the Tourism Act to keep the organisation running until the new board is in place.
She also assured the public that the department’s projects and programmes will continue without interruption despite the leadership crisis.
Criticism of De Lille’s decision
Not everyone supports De Lille’s move. The civil group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) strongly condemned her action.
OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said the minister’s decision was “gross political interference” and an attack on good governance. He argued that the board was right to take action against the CEO and that, instead of backing them, De Lille had chosen to protect Guliwe.
Duvenage went further by calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire De Lille. He said boards of government agencies like SA Tourism should be strong and independent, not undermined by ministers.