Question NW2456 to the Minister of Tourism

Reply:

(1) A comprehensive overview of the procedure that was followed from the point when SA Tourism conceived the idea of a trip to New York to celebrate Freedom Day to the stage when the proposal was formally put forward for approval; if not, why not, if so, what are the relevant details.

I have been informed by South African Tourism that it has policies and a delegation of authority that guides the process for in-market programmes. The process that was followed for the Freedom Day celebration was as follows:

• One of the key programmes implemented annually is SA Tourism collaborating with the missions abroad to celebrate national days. For the 2023 Freedom Day celebrations, SA Tourism collaborated with the SA Mission in New York whereby the Consulate General of South Africa extended the invitation to the Mayor of New York for the event.
• Upon acceptance of the invitation by the Mayor of New York, the Hub-Head of SA Tourism in the US requested through an invitation that the Acting CEO of SA Tourism be part of the celebration as the event was elevated to high level dignitaries.
• The ACEO then submitted a formal motivation to the Minister on the 4th of April 2023 for approval to be part of the programme and this was approved on the 12th of April 2023.
• Subsequently, the ACEO saw the need to extend the invitation to the Portfolio Committee.
• A response from the Portfolio Committee was received on the 14th of April 2023.
• A request was made to the Minister on the 16th of April 2023 for the approval of the Portfolio Committee to travel to the US and for SAT to pay the costs.
• There was no Board approval for the project as this is part of the approved US Hub annual operational plan which focused on the collaboration with missions. Furthermore, the entity used the event to amplify the Global Advocacy programme.
• The budget for the event is part of the annual collaboration with missions which is part of the US Hub office annual operational plan.

The activities in New York were part of the localisation of the Global Advocacy Programme in the USA, which is a priority source market for South Africa. This was planned and delivered to amplify the Annual Global Advocacy Programme, which is a key deliverable of the entity’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) for the 2023/24 Financial Year, under Programme 3: Leisure Marketing.

(2) What checks and balances are in place to ensure that the proposed expenditure is compliant with rules and regulations.

South African Tourism manages all expenditure in line with the provisions of the PFMA, Treasury Regulations and associated internal control policies.

I advised that SAT cannot pay for Parliamentarians’ expenditure as these costs must be borne by Parliament.