At this year’s Indaba, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom announced that SA Tourism will be putting out a tender seeking partners for Indaba.

Addressing the media on Monday afternoon, SA Tourism CEO Thulani Nzima emphasised that this would be a strategic partner.

“This is a conversation we started ourselves, way back in 2012,” he said. The CEO also mentioned that Reed was invited into the conversation. “We invited a few other international companies.”

Nzima said the discussion was informed by a few things. “We still felt that maybe there could be a gap so we did a bit of a gap analysis,” said Nzima. He says the questions asked included what a partner would be able to add to the show. Nzima suggested the missing elements could include technology; management systems; the quality of buyers: the quality of exhibitors; or the marketing platform.

Referring to the latter, he suggested international partners could come onboard. “That international partner has got an opportunity to market our event.”

Indicating that the gap analysis was not finished, Nzima said: “The gap analysis will have to further interrogate a few things.”

However, Nzima emphasised that there will be conditions that need to be met. “Can anybody present Indaba any different and better than the way that we are presenting it at the moment?” he asked. “That’s the kind of challenge that we are going to be dealing with.”

Responding to the question of how this was different to SA Tourism’s current partnerships for Indaba, Nzima said: “The agencies that we have got right now maybe have no equity or no cost component of their own that they are putting into [Indaba].” Referring to the budget of the show, he suggested that should a partner come on board, SA Tourism will reduce its investment in the show.

“We want a partner here that will possibly shoulder a lot more of the responsibility and an element of risk.” He added that the easiest model is management outsourcing, but Indaba is not for sale. “We have built equity around Indaba. We don’t want to discard that,” he said. “We cannot sell Indaba. As an asset; we want to keep it.”

Nzima also pointed out that Indaba is funded by tax payers’ money and must respond to certain considerations. “There’s a bigger picture of the African view on it; then the South African view on it. We want to maintain those kind of things,” he said. “How do we respond to a situation where an emerging democracy is challenged by transformation?” Nzima added that if those responsibilities are abdicated, “I don’t think the taxpayer will continue to fund it in the way that it’s funding it.”

While SA Tourism is looking to reshape the show, the contract with Pure Grit, the event organiser, has been extended for a year, and Durban will again host the show next year.

Can you think of anybody that can do a better job of presenting Indaba? Let us know by sharing your thoughts in our comments section.