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The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that Minister Patricia de Lille cannot produce any written legal advice for dissolving the Board of SA Tourism in 2025.

De Lille told Parliament her decision was based on legal advice, and she committed to the DA in April 2026 to provide the written legal advice, but a month later, in May 2026, she suddenly did an about-turn and now claims she only received “verbal legal advice.” This is unacceptable, and it appears De Lille is hiding the written legal advice.

I have written to De Lille, demanding she explain what legal advice she received regarding the dissolution of the South African Tourism Board on 19 August 2025.

The Board was dissolved by the Minister soon after it suspended its CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe, on 13 August 2025, following the Ngubane Report's recommendation. The Report advised action against Guliwe for her role in a significant case of fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling R4.2 million in 2021, when she was the entity’s CFO.

The Minister’s move to disband the Board, despite strong backing from the tourism sector, sparked significant outrage and raised many questions about the process leading to its removal. There were allegations implying that the Minister was trying to protect Guliwe. The Minister said her decision was based on legal advice received.

On 14 October 2025, the DA submitted a PAIA request for all documents related to the Minister's decision to remove the well-supported Board. The initial PAIA was denied, but after the DA filed an appeal, it was granted on 14 April 2026. In the letter accompanying the granted appeal, De Lille confirmed that the written legal advice she had received would be made available to the DA, because she relied on it when making the decision to dissolve the Board.

But then, in letters dated 22 and 26 May 2026, the Minister and the Department indicated that the legal advice relied upon was “provided verbally”.

De Lille and her Department now claim that no written record of the legal advice related to the Minister’s decision was created.

In contrast to the letter received in April, the Minister now said she had only received “verbal advice” and that no written legal guidance had been provided.

The DA’s letter to De Lille now demands clarity on the contradictory letters.

If it turns out that no written legal advice exists, that would be a serious concern, as the disbanding of the SA Tourism Board was a massive legal step by De Lille.

SA Tourism receives nearly a billion Rand annually from the Department, and dismissing its Board without producing written legal advice is not good enough.

Issued by Haseena Ismail MP - DA Spokesperson on Tourism