Acting SA Tourism CEO Themba Khumalo resigned with immediate effect on Friday. Khumalo is the 9th person to leave the agency after eight board members resigned in a space of a month, following probe into the Tottenham Hotspur deal.  Khumalo faced scrutiny for defending the controversial deal to sponsor the English Premier League club, which he said was a way to attract tourists to South Africa

CONFIRMATION 

Department of Tourism spokesperson Zara Nicholson said Khumalo submitted his resignation to the new interim SA Tourism board on Friday. Khumalo resigned shortly after the cancellation of the controversial R1 billion Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal that was due to be finalised before De Lille was appointed Tourism Minister. Khumalo had been appointed as the acting CEO for 17 months and worked at the agency as chief marketing officer for four years. 

UNLAWFUL AND INVALID 

Patricia de Lille who was appointed Tourism Minister in March this year, said that she had directed the SA Tourism board to cancel the sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur immediately as it was 'unlawful and invalid'. She said that it did not comply with SA Tourism's own procurement processes, it was not budgeted for, and it required approval by the tourism minister to be finalised. "As stated before, in the current economic climate, the use of public funds must be carefully considered and for any department to fulfil its mandate, it must be done in a cost-effective way, exploring multiple options and with due consideration for all priorities. Our justification for any significant spending must still make sense in terms of the broader economic climate we find ourselves in as a country, "she said.