THE DA says it will write to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to request that the R1 billion set to be “wasted on a sponsorship for Tottenham Hotspur be immediately reallocated to buy diesel for Eskom to lower loadshedding”.
This comes after the news leaked that South Africa is pursuing a sponsorship deal with Premier League club Tottenham, following in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates, Rwanda, Malta and others who have used the world’s biggest soccer league to promote their countries.
Tottenham’s north London rival Arsenal has a “Visit Rwanda” message on its shirt sleeve, while UAE’s two official airlines, Emirates and Etihad, are the principal sponsors of Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively.
“National Treasury has repeatedly claimed that there is no additional money for diesel. But the fact that the ANC government has R1 billion to waste on a foreign soccer sponsorship – as confirmed by the acting CEO of the SA Tourism Board – belies this claim,” said Dr Dion George, DA Shadow Minister of Finance.
“During a press briefing today, SA Tourism’s CEO Themba Khumalo said that “there is no signed contract” but that there is definitely intent to sign the contract after it has gone through government procedures. The money, therefore, must immediately be relocated and used to alleviate loadshedding, before it is being wasted.”
George added: “No spin and pontification can justify R1 billion being spent on such a deal in a country with a 32.9% unemployment rate, a crippling energy crisis and thousands of South Africans going to bed hungry every night.”
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