CURRENT efforts to find a workable solution to market the Western Cape and Cape Town will not be derailed by political interference from the African National Congress.
 
This is the word from the Western Cape’s Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC, Alan Winde, and his counterpart in the City of Cape Town, Alderman Felicity Purchase. They were reacting to former Tourism MEC, Garth Strachan’s statement last week that the ANC would refer to the public protector and the public service commission the legality of the city’s decision last year to withdraw its co-funding of Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU). Strachan said he had received legal opinion as far back as September last year that the move was in contravention of the Western Cape Tourism Act, which brought CTRU into being. His statement followed an announcement by the province and the city last week that they were working together to find a marketing solution.
 
“The City of Cape Town and the provincial government are committed to finding a marketing solution for Cape Town and the province.  This blatant, political attempt to derail our efforts on the part of Minister Strachan will have no bearing on our efforts whatsoever and we look forward to continued collaboration with the City on this matter,” Winde said.
 
“If Minister Strachan truly believed that the legal opinion had any substance, he would most definitely have used it against the Democratic Alliance in the run up to the recent election.  We therefore assume that his statement was politically motivated and was driven purely by a desire to attract media attention.  His delay in this regard and sudden about-turn cannot be explained in any other way and we are disappointed that the Minister would use this matter to attempt to derail an ongoing effort between the province and city to find a marketing solution ahead of 2010,” he added.
 
He said the current efforts were aimed at preventing duplication between Cape Town Tourism and CTRU and at giving each a clear mandate, which would enhance the operation of both organisations. “We will ensure that the outcome is one that is fair to all and that can sustain political change.”
 
Alderman Purchase said she was not interested in playing political games with the tourism sector, as it was far too important to the economy of Cape Town, the Western Cape and the whole country.  

“There is general consensus that CTRU is not as focused and effective as it could, and indeed should, be.  In addition there is clearly overlap between the functions of CTRU and CTT. It is certainly not our objective to force the closure of CTRU, quite the opposite. Our intention is to transform CTRU into a focused, more effective organisation that is a real partnership between government and the private sector. We need an organisation that better reflects the industry’s aims and objectives rather than pandering to political interests. The city and province are working closely together to transform CTRU into a body, which will perform better in the market place,” she said.