SA Tourism has been under criticism after the Daily Maverick's reporting of its proposed plans for a three-year deal worth £42.5 million (about R900 million) starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League season and ending at the end of the 2026/27 season.

At a media briefing on Thursday, Khumalo confirmed that SA Tourism's board had made a conditional approval of the deal after travelling to the United Kingdom last month, but various governmental stakeholders weren't contacted to filter down the details after the 31 January meeting.

"The board made a conditional approval because it commercially makes sense, but it needs communication with the stakeholders to make sure they're aligned," Khumalo said.

With the UK being one of South Africa's premium travelling markets, Khumalo furthermore alluded that SA Tourism could not use its budget to fill out service delivery that is mandated by other ministries through legislation. 

"The money that is invested in tourism isn't money that is required for other needs in the country, there are departments that are dedicated to that," said Khumalo.

The acting CEO did not hold back to make it clear that the partnership has nothing to do with football but its solely focused on tourism.

Khumalo also extensively mentioned that the reason SA Tourism choose Tottenham Hotspur is because all the other teams above Tottenham in the English Premier League already have a destination partner except Tottenham.

With the audience footprint of Tottenham Hotspur being one of the biggest in the UK, Khumalo reiterated that the initiative is not a UK-based initiative its just fortunate that Tottenham is based in the UK.

Khumalo who mentioned that since the Tottenham Hotspur games are televised throughout the year, that will be an advantage to SA Tourism as it will receive presence on TV throughout and receive marketing throughout the year.

"The partnership is about the economic impact on tourism it has nothing to do with football, we are accessing the audience in the English Premier League so that they can come to South Africa to spend money through tourism," Khumalo concluded.