SA Tourism response to City Press 6 July article

SSouth African Tourism (SA Tourism) notes with concern the article published by City Press on Sunday, 6 July 2025, under the headline “SA Tourism tender irregularities and attempted cover-up exposed in court”. The article contains several factual inaccuracies and claims that are neither truthful, accurate nor fair.

It is important that the facts are accurately communicated to all stakeholders.

Below are the most notable inaccuracies and our clarifications:

No “denial of reports” in court papers

At no stage has SA Tourism “denied the existence of reports” in court papers. As part of Rule 53 (1) of the Uniform Rules, SA Tourism filed a court record which included the report by Abacus, as well as queries by Chapu. The assertion that SA Tourism “deposed an affidavit denying the reports” is false.

No such affidavit has been filed by SA Tourism in the review court proceedings. To date, SA Tourism has in terms of the provisions of Rule 53(1) of the Uniform Rules, filed comprehensive documents of the record of its decision to cancel the tenders. SA Tourism has not filed any affidavit in the review court proceedings. Therefore, the assertion in the article is fundamentally incorrect and misleading.

Mischaracterisation of findings

The article falsely claims that the Abacus report found that the evaluation process “was compromised to favour Pomme Express.” On the contrary, the Abacus report explicitly concluded:

“We conclude that there was no indication that any bidder was being favoured or that any BEC member attempted to steer a particular outcome.”

Similarly, City Press inaccurately attributes findings by the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) regarding specific bidders.

This statement is false. The SA Tourism BAC never adjudicated the tenders, and therefore could not have made such findings. The record demonstrates instead that the BAC passed a resolution to cancel the tenders based on probity concerns.

Commitment to accountability

As a public entity, SA Tourism remains committed to transparency, accountability, and compliance with the highest standards of governance. We reject any insinuation of a “cover-up” or impropriety.

We call on City Press to correct the factual inaccuracies in their reporting. While SA Tourism is mindful of the pending court proceedings and therefore refrains from commenting on their merits, we will not allow misleading and damaging narratives to go unchallenged.

We urge all media to report responsibly, particularly on matters that implicate public institutions and taxpayer resources.

ENDS

Media Enquiries:

Thandiwe Mathibela: GM: Global PR, Communications & Stakeholder Relations

Email: thandiwe@southafrica.net OR mediaq@southafrica.net Website www.southafrica.net