WESTERN CAPE Premier, Lynne Brown, speaks to Hilka Birns about the implications of the marketing shake-up in Cape Town: Q: Cape Town Tourism (CTT) used to have a strategic alignment with CTRU through a service level agreement managed by the City of Cape Town. Now that the service level agreement has been cancelled, where does it leave the relationship between CTRU and CTT?

A: Formerly the relationship between CTRU and CTT was encapsulated in the service level agreement between the city and CTRU.   This fell away on June 30 and CTRU intends to engage with CTT on co-operation going forward. The province does have a position on the relationship between provincial government and regional tourism organisations/local tourism organisations, which is that they should indeed work together. But while this is a national position, it does not carry the force of law. The province also has a service level agreement with CTRU and will closely monitor this agreement on a quarterly basis. Q: Aren’t we in effect going back to the situation before 2004 when tourism marketing was criticised for being fragmented and uncoordinated with lots of duplication of effort?

A: Yes and no. Yes, in that the city departs from the framework formed by CTRU to market the 30 municipalities in the province.  No, in that the organisation, however, continues to be the umbrella body as far as the other 29 municipalities in the province are concerned. Q: Is this new development of CTT becoming the marketing body for Cape Town not illegal in terms of the Western Cape Tourism Act, which created CTRU as an umbrella body for marketing the province and the city? Does the Act not need to be amended?

A: Yes, it is certainly contrary to both the spirit and the letter of the Act.  On a practical level, there would be major questions in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the National Treasury regulations related to the city transferring any funds to any organisation, which has received two qualified audits consecutively. Secondly, the city’s own legal advisers have pointed out to them in council documents that their grant in aid to CTT is contrary to their policy on grants in aid, and we feel they should clarify this.