SA Tourism clarifies proposed Tottenham sponsorship

South Africa Tourism’s Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Themba Khumalo, has sought to clarify reports on a proposed SA Government sponsorship of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, saying the funding was meant to be spent on foreign soil regardless of the initiative.

Documents obtained by the daily online publication Daily Maverick reveal that government is on the verge of finalising a sponsorship deal worth around R1 billion with the London-based club.

The tourism ministry has denied Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s involvement in the deal, saying it was purely an SA Tourism board matter.

Khumalo speaking during a media briefing in Johannesburg said, ”Whether it is through this initiative that we are debating today or any other initiative, we are still going to spend in that region of investment on foreign soil to get international travellers to travel into the destination. So, it is going to happen in any event.”

”This (sponsorship) envisaged deal is not asking the fiscus to introduce new money into our marketing budget. We are asking for all of that money to be aggregated into a high impact initiative to get the yield that we know in terms of our growth trajectory that this country deserves,” Khumalo adds

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