SA Tourism forging ahead with near-R1 billion Spurs sponsorship 'conditionally' as criticism mounts

South African Tourism's (SAT) acting chief executive officer Themba Khumalo confirmed on Thursday that they were forging ahead with a proposed sponsorship of English premiership side Tottenham Hotspur and that the board had given conditional approval.

SAT has came under fire after the Daily Maverick's reporting of its proposed plans for a three-year deal worth £42.5 million (about R900 million) starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League season and ending at the end of the 2026/27 season.

The news was greeted with shock from many corners of the South African sports community on Wednesday, with federations and athletes suggesting that such a large sum of money would be of more benefit if spent on these shores to benefit local sports development.  

In exchange for the investment, SA Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.

Khumalo, who wasn't in a position to confirm or deny the figures of the sponsorship, said the SA Tourism board had made a conditional approval of the deal after travelling to the United Kingdom last month, but various governmental stakeholders weren't contacted to filter down the details after the 31 January meeting.

READ | 'It's insane!' SA sports federation heads fume over near-billion-rand Spurs sponsorship proposal

"The board made a conditional approval because it commercially makes sense, but it needs communication with the stakeholders to make sure they're aligned," Khumalo told reporters.

"The stakeholders were not engaged because we were going to do so before the leak came out.

"We believe in the engagement, but there isn’t a