South Africa: SA Tourism Interim CFO Has Ties to Agency Which Could Cash in On Tottenham Hotspur Deal

Hzh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June 2019.
2 February 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Rebecca Davis

SA Tourism's interim Chief Financial Officer, Johan van der Walt, has admitted to having ties to an agency named in original documents relating to the controversial Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship proposal.

When acting SA Tourism CEO Themba Khumalo addressed the media on Thursday about the controversial R1-billion Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship proposal, he was adamant that "no agencies" were involved as middlemen in the deal.

Khumalo did not answer Daily Maverick's subsequent inquiry, during the session's Q&A, about whether this was accurate.

But in the initial PowerPoint presentation shown to the SA Tourism board, there are multiple references to an agency which will be used in "activating" the sponsorship -- and which must be paid a £1.5-million (R31.3-million) upfront fee.

That agency is named as WWP Group.

Daily Maverick can reveal that SA Tourism's interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Johan van der Walt, is a director of a number of companies linked to the WWP Group -- and has admitted to doing work directly for the WWP Group in the past.

Van der Walt's name is in the metadata of the initial PowerPoint presentation, revealing him as the author of the initial Spurs proposal presentation.

The agency named in documents as part...

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