The former South African Tourism (SAT) board suffered a minor setback yesterday after the Pretoria High Court ruled that its application to challenge Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille’s decision did not meet the legal requirement for urgency.

According to Lowvelder, the judgment did not address the substantive merits of the application or the lawfulness of the dissolution itself.

“While we respect the court’s ruling, we are deeply disappointed with the outcome and firmly maintain that the minister’s decision to dissolve the SAT board was unjustified, lacked merit and constituted an overreach of authority,” former board member Oupa Pilane said.

Pilane told Lowvelder that they are planning to meet with their lawyers today to plan a way forward for the next court hearing.

De Lille dissolved the former board based on an alleged meeting that took place on August 1 to vote on the suspension of former CEO Nombulelo Guliwe, without a chairperson present. However, former board members stated on August 21 that no such meeting had taken place and that the grounds on which the minister relied were factually inaccurate.

“The board members remain committed to challenging this decision and will continue to pursue all legal avenues to invalidate the minister’s action and address the illegality of the dissolution,” Pilane stated.

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