Tourism recovery is critical to get people back to work and the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) will seek an urgent meeting with the newly appointed Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu, to brief her on the pressing matters related to growth and recovery.

“We give thanks to the outgoing minister (Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane) for her service to the industry and we welcome the new minister and look forward to working with her to set the industry on a strong path to growth,” said TBCSA CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa.

Speaking to Tourism Update after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet reshuffle (click here to view the EWN infographic) on Thursday evening (August 5), Tshivhengwa said legacy issues such as the fast-tracking of e-Visas and the backlogs for operating licences at the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR) would require urgent attention from Sisulu.

“Another very important issue of course is the vaccine passport,” he emphasised. The TBCSA is pushing for South Africa to adopt a similar approach to the rest of the world and create an easy-to-access digitalised record of PCR tests and vaccination certificates so that airlines and border authorities can be confident in the veracity of test and vaccine data. 

“We are advocating for South Africa to recognise the critical global personal digital systems for travellers that provide a digital certificate demonstrating the traveller's PCR test and vaccine status. It should also adopt one as the primary system it uses and requires visitors planning to visit South Africa to use if the policy allows,” explained Tshivhengwa.

Getting South Africa’s COVID-19 risk status revised and removed from the red lists of key source markets in the US, UK and Europe is another major barrier to tourism growth which the TBCSA hopes the Minister will address.

Who is Lindiwe Sisulu?

Lindiwe Sisulu was born in Johannesburg on May 10, 1954. She is the daughter of African National Congress (ANC) veterans, Walter and Albertina Sisulu.

According to the sahistory.org.za website, she participated in South Africa’s struggle for freedom, including an arrest in Johannesburg in June 1976. Sisulu was held without trial under section 6 of the notorious Terrorism Act and spent 11 months in detention. Police alleged that she was in possession of funds of the then banned ANC.

She obtained both her BA degree and Honours degree at the University of Swaziland. She was Editor of the Times of Swaziland before teaching first at Manzini High School and then at the Manzini Teachers’ Training College.

Sisulu later enrolled for an MA at the University of York, where she also completed her MPhil in 1989.

In 1990, after the unbanning of the ANC and other political organisations, Sisulu returned to South Africa. Amongst others, she has worked as Chief Administrator of the ANC at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) and as a consultant for Unesco’s Children’s Rights Committee.

In 1992 she was awarded the Human Rights Centre fellowship in Geneva. She has published extensively on the subjects of women, the liberation struggle, working conditions and even agriculture.

She joined national government over two decades ago and was the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Housing and, before she was appointed Tourism Minister, served as Minister of Human Settlements, Water & Sanitation (since May 2019).