'No response' to notice of suspension served on acting SA Tourism CFO

Acting South African Tourism CFO Johan van der Walt has not responded to a notice of suspension served on him last week.

This is according to SA Tourism Board chairperson Thozamile Botha, who said on Tuesday Van der Walt was served with a notice asking him why he should not be suspended after preliminary investigations which suggested he did not declare his conflict of interest or recuse himself from meetings discussing the sponsorship deal with English team Tottenham Hotspur.

Botha said on Tuesday the deadline was on Monday, and the last time he spoke to SA Tourism he had not heard whether Van der Walt had responded.

Botha said if there was no response, the board would have to decide on a course of action.

Daily Maverick reported Van der Walt had links to an agency that would receive a £1.5m (abour R32m) fee to “activate” the sponsorship.

Van der Walt told the website he had no financial interest in the agency, WWP Group, but he had done consulting work for it, mainly on tax matters.

After the resignation of three SA Tourism board members two weeks ago, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu suggested last week the board should be focused on suspending Van der Walt, who allegedly brought ethical defects to the deal.

The proposed three-year agreement worth nearly R1bn, which included printing a message about South Africa on the club’s jerseys as part of a campaign to get millions of people around the world who watch the league to visit the country, has been put on hold.

On Saturday SA Tourism dropped its forensic investigation into who leaked the document about the planned sponsorship deal.

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