According to a source close to the situation, Khumalo tendered his resignation on Friday after four years in the organisation. "TK resigned today [Friday] after accepting an offer to work overseas," said the source. In March, Khumalo was in the spotlight after he publicly defended a R1 billion proposal to sponsor English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur English Premier League club, as a way to attract tourists to South Africa.

At the time, Khumalo said South Africans should not regard the sponsorship as wasteful expenditure. In a live broadcast, he announced: "The money invested in tourism isn't the same money required for energy. It's not the same amount of money that's required to fix potholes. There are other departments which are dedicated to that and are given that mandate by legislation."

In April, Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille announced that Thozamile Botha, the chairperson of the SA Tourism board, had resigned. De Lille said Botha resigned after she had written a letter to the SA Tourism board on April 6 requesting the board to provide reasons why it should not be dissolved.