Former Wesgro CEO Tim Harris will chair the interim SA Tourism Board.

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille said she would gazette the appointment on Friday.

The minister said newly appointed board member Vincent Zwelibanzi Mntambo nominated Harris during last week's meeting.

Harris, Mntambo and Kholeka Zama were appointed nearly two weeks ago as interim SA Tourism Board members.

"Mr Tim Harris wrote to the Acting CEO of SA Tourism on Wednesday, 26 April 2023, requesting a number of strategic documents and an urgent briefing from the SA Tourism executive," said De Lille.

She was optimistic about the trio, saying they understood the urgent work required to turn SA Tourism around.

She said: "I had a fruitful and frank discussion with the interim SA Tourism Board and the director-general of the Department of Tourism, outlining key outcomes and areas we need to work on urgently to ensure that the SA Tourism Interim Board, the SA Tourism Executive and the Department of Tourism can work together efficiently to grow inclusive tourism for the country."

Zama is a qualified chartered accountant with experience in finance, audit and governance. She has worked for companies like Digital Frontiers NPC and British American Tobacco SA.

Mntambo is the former director-general of the Gauteng provincial government and director of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa, an NGO specialising in resolving industrial conflict.

Harris is a tourism and economic promotion expert, an associate professor of practice at Johannesburg's Business School, and a senior advisor to the entrepreneur network, Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance.

The new appointments follow mass resignations of board members at SA Tourism.

De Lille had asked former board chairperson Thozamile Botha why she should not dissolve the board, citing allegations against its members.

She subsequently dissolved the board last month after eight of the 11 members resigned.

SA Tourism came under fire in February when Daily Maverick reported that it had proposed a three-year deal worth £42.5 million (nearly R1 billion) with Tottenham Hotspur, starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League until the end of the 2026/27 season.

In return, SA Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.

In March, De Lille announced the decision to scrap the proposed "unlawful and invalid" deal. She said public funds needed to be used sparingly, given the country's economic state.The response by SA Tourism's board at the time was that there was no "unlawful and invalid" Tottenham Hotspur transaction to be cancelled since only an in-principle decision had existed.