News broke during World Travel Market Africa in Cape Town that effective Monday, April 15, Marthinus van Schalkwyk will transfer from Athens to Australia for the next four years as High Commissioner (Ambassador).
The tourism trade in South Africa and from the World of Tourism remember fondly Marthinus van Schalkwyk from his years as the Minister of Tourism of South Africa.
On April 29, 2004 Van Schalkwyk was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki as Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism for South Africa. He held the position until May 2009, when a new Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs was created and he became Minister of Tourism.
Van Schalkwyk became President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in June 2008, when South Africa assumed the presidency of AMCEN at the beginning of its 12th Session.
In its annual review of ministerial performance for 2013. the Mail and Guardian honored his significant contributions as Tourism Minister.