Durban — The portfolio committee on tourism has raised concerns to South African Tourism for overspending, failing to reach the 2% target on the representation of people living with disabilities and not achieving its targets.
In a briefing on Wednesday, the committee heard that SA Tourism achieved 44 targets out of its planned 52 targets for the second quarter of the 2023/24 financial year.
The committee, chaired by Tandi Mahambehlala, also expressed its disappointment that SA Tourism continued to fail to meet its 2% target on the representation of people living with disabilities. It appealed to it to ensure that when it appears before the committee the 0% on the issue would be resolved.
“As part of its financial performance, the entity reported a cumulative over-spending variance on business events, which it attributed to the increased sale events that require upfront financial commitments. The committee was concerned about these prepayments and enquired if they were in accordance with Treasury regulations, as they were also flagged by the Office of the Auditor-General during its presentation on SAT’s financial statements,” said Mahambehlala.
She said the committee took issue with the implementation of the 2023 summer campaign.
“SA Tourism reported that the campaign had started, but failed to indicate when and where it was launched and whether it would be able to yield the desired results,” she said.
The acting CEO and interim CFO Nombulelo Guliwe said that in a normal financial year the planning for finances was done during the first quarter to determine the budget for the whole year. Sometimes there were contracts that required pre-payments. The pre-payments did have approvals.
“Overspending on programmes was caused by the current financial situation of the entity,” said Guliwe.
TSA Tourism COO Nomasonto Ndlovu said in terms of employment equity, 65% of staff were women, against a target of 60%. Women held 44% of the senior and top management positions, against a target of 50%. There were no people with disabilities, against a target of two percent.
“Across all occupational levels, 75% of staff were Africans, Coloureds, or Indians, against a target of 60%. The challenge with regard to women in senior and top management positions was the moratorium that was in place during the quarter and an increase in resignations. Regarding people with disabilities, the challenge was that disclosure was voluntary,” said Ndlovu.
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