SAT Board appoints new acting CEO despite knowledge of bribery allegations
11 May 2023
It is clear that South African Tourism (SAT) is in serious trouble as it encounters one crisis after another. Within days of being appointed as the SAT acting CEO, Nomasonto Ndlovu has been implicated in bribery. Information provided to me indicates that a whistle-blower called the SAT hotline with claims that Ndlovu, on 6 and 7 December 2022, had allegedly accepted a R100 000 bribe from an airline for business class flights, accommodation and World Cup tickets.
Our understanding is that the SAT Interim Board members were aware of these allegations yet despite this still appointed Ndlovu as SAT Acting CEO.
The SAT Interim board accepted the resignation of the SAT previous acting CEO, Themba Khumalo on 6 May 2023, after which the Board appointed Ndlovu. Despite Khumalo having a 3-month notice period, the Board chose to accept Khumalo’s request to leave immediately without working in his notice period; all at the expense of the taxpayer.
The latest Tourism Portfolio Committee meeting, which ran for almost 6 hours, exposed more questions than answers. Presently, most of the top SAT leadership are now all in acting capacities. Ndlovu is acting CEO as well as Chief Operations Officer, while the Chief Quality Assurance Officer, Bronwen Auret is now doubling up as Acting Chief Marketing Officer.