The Constitutional court declared the tourism fund introduced by Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, the then Minister of Tourism, unlawful. Image: Gallo Images / Daily Sun / Lindile Mbontsi)
The Constitutional court declared the tourism fund introduced by Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, the then Minister of Tourism, unlawful. Image: Gallo Images / Daily Sun / Lindile Mbontsi)
The African National Congress (ANC) is planning on establishing a “sweetheart” union in the tourism sector that will be loyal to the will of the ruling party.
This according to the Democratic Alliance (DA), who have alleged on Thursday 13 August that they have received inside information from a whistleblower saying that members of existing Tourism Union of South Africa (TUSA) received a query from a person associated with the ANC and Lethuli House suggesting that a formal union be established based on directives handed down by the ruling party.
DA believe ANC are plotting to capture tourism sector
The DA’s Shadow Minister for Tourism, Manny de Freitas, said that the whistleblower had suggested to him that the aim of the ruling party is to establish a union within the sector that will allow it to stem descending voices against it’s policy decisions.
“A whistle-blower has contacted the Democratic Alliance (DA) providing information that the ANC is allegedly planning to start a “sweetheart” union for the tourism sector sanctioned by Luthuli House,” he said.
“This tourism union will supposedly be compliant and deferential to the ANC and would serve as the official voice of the tourism industry thus muting the sector in an attempt to stop the tourism demonstrations that are now taking place almost daily.”
He posited that the launch of a union under these conditions would be par for the course when it comes to opportunism and exploitation he accused the ANC of perpetuating during the current COVID-19 crisis.
“Such a union would be ideally timed in the current climate caused by the lockdown and economic hardships that the ANC government itself caused. These hardships have been highlighted by professionals within this sector, leaving hundreds of thousands without jobs and many others unable to earn a living for the past 5 months.”
Registration of tourism union TUSA central to alleged plot
The DA alleged that the information they received suggests that the ANC plans to register the Tourism Union of South Africa (TUSA), a union that was established by tourism operators and tour-guides in 2013 but was never registered with the Department of Labour and Employment.
“An official, with instructions from Luthuli House, is supposedly working at formalising the TUSA,” said de Freitas.
He said that the revelations vindicate his department’s stance that the national Department of Tourism is unconcerned with the sector’s tangible well-being, and that they see it as a mere utility to promote support for the ANC.
“This clandestine action under the watch of the Minister of No Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, matches what she stated at a Tourism Portfolio Committee meeting in mid-July when discussing the regulations that are currently decimating the tourism sector, when she explained that there must be no ambiguity with regards her unequivocal support for Government, even if it causes the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs as is currently happening.”
“The establishment of such a union would reinforce this support given to Government by the clearly out of touch Minister.”
‘Whistleblower’ believes that ‘something doesn’t add up’
The South African spoke to the source cited by de Freitas on Thursday evening, and under the condition that they remain anonymous, they verified the claims made by the opposition party.
“We tried to establish a union seven years ago, but it didn’t work,” they said of the effort to formalise TUSA.
“We wanted a voice in the tourism industry to engage independently with government.”
They told The South African that registration was unattainable because they couldn’t amass enough membership, but said the in spite of this setback, TUSA had continued to act as a voice for the industry.
They went on to say that they had recently received a phone call from someone claiming to be a member of the ANC who wanted to set up a registered union in line with a directive passed down by Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane and the ANC government.
“Following due diligence, the EXCO found the several aspects of the man’s pitch didn’t add up,” they said. “The offer was to now assist with registering TUSA as the tourism sector’s primary union, under the ANC’s control.”
“Ultimately though, it points to the fact that the ANC wants to take control of descanting voices in the sector by maintaining control over the union, and therefore making it difficult for their policies to be challenged,” the source said.
Union-control ‘an old ANC trick’ – De Freitas
This union-control strategy is something that De Freitas described as “an old ANC trick”.
“In the last few weeks, the tourism, hospitality and restaurant industries have launched a concerted and sustained campaign against Government’s crippling COVID-19 lockdown,’ he said.
“They have successfully highlighted how it is decimating these sectors as hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost.
“The Minister has even admitted this on numerous occasions, yet she chooses to do nothing to aid the sector, instead, she chooses to seemingly work against them.”
