Tottenham are reportedly set to sign a three-year £42.5m worth sponsorship with South Africa’s tourist board worth.
The sponsorship between Tottenham and South African government worth a £42.5million deal alongside the tourism board plans to attract more visitors to the country by forging a relationship with the Premier League club, according to reports.
Opposing political party has branded the deal as a medium of public outrage in the country labelling it as a ‘slap in the face’ for tax-payers.
If the figure stated by the Daily Maverick is correct, Tottenham’s £42m investment in deadline day signing Pedro Porro would be entirely repaid by the sponsorship.
Although, the North London club are yet to comment on the reported deal to cement it’s credibiliy.
Leaked documents obtained by South African newspaper Daily Maverick earlier this week revealed that Spurs were planning to ink a three-year sponsorship starting from next season with Tottenham.
News of the deal, which has reportedly been in the works for six years, has sparked widespread controversy within the South African sports community, who feel the sizeable amount would be better spent locally.
Themba Khumalo, South African Tourism’s acting chief executive officer, confirmed on Thursday as culed from Dailymail that the deal had been given conditional approval but was unable to reveal any figures linked to the sponsorship.
“The stakeholders were not engaged because we were going to do so before the leak came out,” Khumalo stated.
“We believe in the engagement, but there isn’t a signed contract with the entity. There was a conversation that led to the conditional approval.”
“There’s no signed contract, but there is an intention to as we need to do due diligence and follow government processes.”
“We had to halt this conversation to have this conversation, so once we complete this one, we’ll look forward. The other teams had tourism partners and Spurs didn’t have one. We looked at every team in that tier.”
After South Africa’s media leaked the proposal, public outrage has swept the country, with Brand Africa chairman Thebe Ikalafeng labelling the deal an ‘irresponsible use of tax’.
Describing it as a ‘vanity investment’, Ikalafeng urged that the money should instead be put towards ‘safety for travellers, lights and maintenance’.
Political party Democratic Alliance said: ‘(The proposal is) a slap in the face of every South African whose hard-earned tax will be used to sponsor a first-world football team. (It is) an insult for the South African tourism and travel sector which was decimated, and in many cases completely destroyed, during and post Covid.”
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