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SA’s Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, has received the Annual Performance Report of South African Tourism (SAT) and the audit outcome of the department.
While the department received a qualified audit, it has managed to achieve above 80% performance. However, the Minister expressed concern on the underperformance of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) as flagged by the Auditor-General, particularly as this is a crucial programme of the department that focuses on job creation linked to the development of tourism infrastructure and skills development within the tourism sector.
The EPWP capital projects have experienced many challenges, among them poor project implementation and other systems failures. These challenges in the capital projects led to the department incurring fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
On South African Tourism
The Minister expressed further concern at the audit report, which showed performance of 56% of the annual performance target, as reflected in the audited SAT 2018/2019 Annual Performance Report and about R98m ($6.5m) irregular expenditure as reflected in the Auditor General’s report.
A meeting was held with SAT staff and the board on October 4, where a number of issues were raised including how to turn the corner and ensure improved performance in the current financial year and the following years.
“The stability and well-functioning of South African Tourism remains an urgent priority and, as such, I will in the coming weeks embark on a process to replace both Board Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the board. This is after SAT Board Chairperson Ms Pam Yako stepped down as board chairperson and Deputy Chairperson Dr Tanya Abrahamse resigned from the board,” said Minister Kubayi-Ngubane.
The Minister expressed confidence in the men and women at SAT under the leadership of Acting CEO, Sthembiso Dlamini and Interim Board Chairperson Ravi Nadasen, to help turn the tide of performance at SAT.
Source: tourismupdate.co.za