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Patricia Leaves Tourism Projects in Limbo

Dear Editor

The DA has submitted a PAIA request to gain access to the Department of Tourism’s service-provider agreements for the Tourism Equity Fund. Since suspending the Department’s contract with the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency (SEDFA) earlier this year, Minister De Lille has failed to put in place the promised agreement with the PIC. TEF-funded projects now sit in limbo, devastating the communities reliant on them.

The DA demands transparency from De Lille, whose office has shown a complete lack of responsiveness to critical enquiries in this regard.

This follows the Minister’s own commitment earlier this year during a meeting with the National Council Of Provinces (NCOP), to finalise this agreement. However, repeated written enquiries to her office have been met with a wall of silence.

This unresponsiveness is unacceptable and forces us to use legal means to access information critical to public oversight. Our PAIA application will demand that the Department makes available all relevant documents, including the new agreement with the PIC, correspondence on the previous contract’s termination and renegotiation, and all related memoranda.

The delay directly impacts vital tourism development projects, including the long-stalled Madikwe Mountain Lodge in the Madikwe National Park. Applicants have been waiting for over a year for feedback, while at least 200 job opportunities that would uplift suffering communities surrounding the Madikwe National Park are being withheld. This government-induced paralysis is depriving South Africans of much-needed economic opportunities.

The DA will use every tool at its disposal, including PAIA and parliamentary mechanisms, to ensure full transparency and get these job-creating projects back on track. Minister de Lille’s decision to end one agreement without having a functional replacement ready is a gross dereliction of duty.

The DA will not allow this incompetence to stand. We demand immediate answers and a clear plan to end this catastrophe.

Regards

Elmarie Linde MP
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Tourism

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