Question NW688 to the Minister of Tourism
20 April 2022 - NW688
De Freitas, Mr MS to ask the Minister of Tourism
With reference to the (a) national tour guides registrar and (b) tour guides registrar of the nine provinces, (i) on what date was each complaint (aa) lodged and (bb) completed in each case in each month in the past three financial years and since 1 January 2022, (ii) who addressed each complaint in each case, (iii) what costs were incurred when addressing each complaint in each case in each month and (iv) how are complaints used to improve the systems?
Reply:
a) According to the section 48 of the Tourism Act, no. 3 of 2014 (Act), the National Registrar of Tourist Guides does not deal with complaints, but instead acts as an appeals authority for any person who is aggrieved by a decision of a Provincial Registrar and who wishes to appeal against that decision. The National Registrar is therefore unable to provide information about complaints received and handled during the period in question. As was evident during the audit process, there are gaps in the existing legislation which will require the Department to undertake a policy and law reform process to among others, assess the role of the National Registrar and ensure that the Department plays an oversight role when it comes to the functions performed at a provincial level. Various policy options would need to be researched and considered however it is possible that the oversight function would be one way of addressing the current inconsistencies and disparities that exist at a provincial level to realise streamlined processes.
b) Section 53 of the Act which deals with the reporting of contraventions and lodging of complaints, states that any person may report a contravention with the Provincial Registrar and if the complaint discloses an offence, the Provincial Registrar must lay a charge with the South African Police Service. Due to the nature of their function with respect to the handling of complaints, it is best that Provincial Registrars be contacted to provide more information in this regard.
(b)(i-iv) implementation or evoking of the provisions of the Tourism Act in handling complaints led to the testing of the effectiveness of the Law regulating the tourist guiding sector.