During a parliamentary debate today, the FF Plus pointed out that the Ministry of Tourism is a useless government structure that is utterly unable to fulfil its mandate and must, therefore, be abolished.
The ANC government's statements about supporting tourism as a key economic sector are no more than pure propaganda.
At present, the Ministry delegates most of its substantive functions to the public enterprises Tourism SA and Brand South Africa.
Lindiwe Sisulu, the Minister of Tourism, is mostly missing in action and must be reminded time and again that she is accountable to Parliament.
The Ministry itself is unable to make a constructive contribution to promoting tourism in the country, and is largely dependent on other departments for creating a tourism-friendly environment.
In addition, the ANC government has allowed South Africa to decay to such an extent that it can hardly be marketed as a tourist destination.
With its sky-high crime levels and decaying infrastructure, it is a miracle that foreigners still visit South Africa.
A tragic example of the decay of top tourist destinations is Durban, where sewage now flows on the beaches.
This is the situation in spite of the ANC's many promises to unlock and respect the potential and value of the tourism sector.
The sector's potential to create more jobs is enormous. However, senseless policy that hamper growth and investment in the sector is implemented.
In this way, the ANC government is letting all South Africans down as everyone could have benefited from the country's tourism potential.
Clearly, the Ministry is no more than an empty shell with several redundant officials who are financed by taxpayers while making no contribution at all.
This Department ought to be incorporated into another ministry, and tourism must be allowed to flourish without the constraints of a power-hungry ANC government's policy.
South Africans deserve better than the ANC.
