Trouble at The Travel Company

XL HEAD office has
distanced itself from
flagship member, The
Travel Company. The head
office sent a notification to
all preferred partners this
week advising that it was
no longer associated with
the agency, with immediate
effect.
Sources have also
confirmed that The Travel
Company, which was
established 30 years ago,
has defaulted on its BSP
payments on June 18.
The agency is allegedly
currently not able to issue
tickets through its Iata
number.
Lynne Bakos, previous
majority owner of The
Travel Company since
1989, confirmed that she
had sold the agency to
Themba Mthombeni in
November. Themba is
also the owner of Duma
Travel. Lynne told TNW
that she initially stayed
on at the company in the
capacity of a non-executive
director and ITC but says
she has since resigned
her directorship.
CIPC reports relating to
The Travel Company pulled
in March this year showed
that Themba was listed as
the only active principal
of the company. However
reports pulled this month
list Susanna Jacoba
Barnard as the only
current active principal of
The Travel Company.
TNW managed to get hold
of Susanna, who is known
in the industry as Sunette
Barnard. She worked with
Themba at Duma Travel
for a number of years as a
senior staff member and is
currently listed as general
manager Western Cape
for The Travel Company on
LinkedIn.
But Sunette told TNW
that she was not the
owner of The Travel
Company and was only
a non-executive director
and said that Themba
was still the owner of the
company.
Duma Travel allegedly
defaulted on its BSP
payment toward the end
of 2018. CIPC reports
list judgements amounting
to over R2 million against
the entity.
Duma Travel’s website
has been disabled for
months and it is unclear
whether the agency is still
operating.
TNW tried to contact
Themba for more
information but received
no response.