Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu is expected to brief President Cyril Ramaphosa about the highly criticised R910m deal to partner with Tottenham Hotspur.
Sisulu’s spokesperson Steve Motale on Sunday said: “The minister had a six-hour meeting with the board yesterday, where she was briefed in detail about this. The next step is to brief the president and as soon as the president is briefed an announcement will be made.
“It can take place today or tomorrow. As soon as the president has been briefed by the minister, then an announcement will be made before the state of the nation address on Thursday,” Motale said.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya last week said the deal was unjustifiable.
Daily Maverick last week reported that SA Tourism (SAT) was proposing a 36-month deal with English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur at a cost of R910m.
The deal was met with widespread criticism due to the ongoing energy crisis with others proposing the money be redirected towards ending it.
Over the weekend, three members of SAT board – Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen and Rosemary Anderson – resigned with immediate effect.
On Sunday, a video of SAT acting CEO Themba Khumalo emerged on social media where he is seen unboxing what he clearly states is a sponsorship proposal offer from English soccer giant, Manchester United.
In the video, Khumalo unboxes a package from ManUnited and inside is a soccer jersey with the words “Visit S A”.
An elated Khumalo says: “This is a proposal from Manchester United. As if we didn't have enough problems hey. I've just received another proposal from Manchester United. We just had a press conference this morning and I promise we did not stage this. We've just unboxed this. This is a proposal.
“Now, if trying to get into football is a bad deal, why is Manchester United with 1.1 billion followers sending us a proposal. I think someone out there doesn't understand that it's not about the team but the 1.1 billion followers and 1.1% of that is 11-million incremental visitors to S A.”
During Thursday's press conference where Khumalo addressed media, he confirmed that they had been approached by a different soccer team but would not divulge the name, simply to deny that it had been Chelsea as reported by the SABC.
When asked about the new Manchester United proposal, SAT spokesperson Thandiwe Mathibela said she was unable to respond to Sowetan's questions.
Last week, Khumalo said Tottenham Hotspur were chosen because they were the “only team in the top-performing tier of the English Premier League that did not have a destination partner”.
When asked where the deal was now and to comment on the backlash by South Africans on the deal, Tottenham Hotspur communications manager Rohan Johal : said: “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide anything here as we do not comment on commercial matters.”
nkosin@sowetan.co.za
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