Former Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda requested the Condition Safety Company (SSA) in December 2018 to research the leaking of paperwork that uncovered lottery corruption.
The NLC’s firm secretary at some time detailed media reports she claimed were being based on “stolen” details in an affidavit for that SSA.
The SSA did investigate. It discovered the information was not a issue of point out security and that the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “sufficient motive” with the media to show it.
A completely new board and administration has considering the fact that taken above the NLC and thus far have taken actions to finish corruption for the institution.
A State Protection Company (SSA) investigation discovered the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “provided ample motive” for exposure with the media.
The probe into intended “information and facts security breaches and sabotage of NLC operations” was carried out after then-NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda wrote for the SSA in December 2018 requesting it to investigate.
Here is
Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by currently suspended NLC business secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the ask for, and
the safety agency’s “private” results and recommendations.
Nevhutanda questioned the SSA to research the function of NLC staff during the alleged leaking of knowledge, and Nene, in her affidavit discovered distinct media and reports that she claimed included these leaks.
Within the letter outlining its results, the SSA told the NLC that although protecting condition facts was “a lawful crucial targeted at preserving the sovereignty and integrity from the state” this only applied to appropriately classified details.
Although it did not say so directly, the SSA conclusions implied which the allegedly leaked facts didn't drop into this category.
Significantly, the SSA made it apparent that the need to shield point out data “doesn't prevent any particular person from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or illegal activity”.
The SSA investigation uncovered that the NLC facts involved in the alleged breach was “sensitive and privileged in mother nature, although not classified regarding the prescripts of your Minimal Data Stability Standards (Skip)”.
“The leakage in the appropriate sensitive official NLC info for the media will not pose a threat to national stability,” the SSA claimed, including that the effects of your breaches was reputational.
The SSA report located “no evidence of the factual and incriminating nature versus any in the suspected NLC workers which could be recognized from the data and information interrogated”.
It also stated that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities in the NLC and at its beneficiaries does provide ample motive to own such exposed inside the media”.
Conspiracy statements
In 2020, Nevhutanda advised MPs all through a session of Parliament’s trade, industry and Opposition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” during which details “stolen” through the NLC was sent to the US, where by he claimed it had been getting sold to fund a smear marketing campaign towards the NLC.
He was repeating similar statements he experienced Formerly built in Parliament, which provided ad hominem attacks on GroundUp which reporter but was careful not to name both.
“I arrived here In this particular August house final 12 months and noted to honourable associates that details about our beneficiaries has become stolen and put in one state in the united states,” he informed MPs.
“We called on the Point out Protection Agency to come look into the make any difference due to the fact we're receiving reports that our facts is producing income for media platforms and journalists,” he reported. “There was chat, needless to say from one particular supply, 1 media, that spoke Substantially about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda said (referring to GroundUp), but did not convey to MPs the SSA investigation were completed Pretty much a calendar year earlier.
Proactive funding was at the guts of the looting of the lottery. It facet-stepped the traditional grant course of action. The NLC could by itself discover a task to fund and appoint a non-income organisation to oversee it.
After Nevhutanda to start with instructed Parliament in 2018 that he had requested the SSA to investigate the intended breach, the South African National Editors Forum issued a press release stating that his remarks mirrored “an extremely unsafe attitude the place the media is remaining blamed for your NLC’s inherent challenges”.
“Instead of investigating why thousands and thousands can't be accounted for, the NLC has as a substitute made an effort to Forged question about the integrity with the journalists included and has asked the SSA to analyze their resources.”
Proactive assignments created key
Security flaws discovered from the NLC grant funding technique through the SSA’s investigation, appear to are utilised being an excuse because of the NLC to remove all proactive-funded initiatives from its central grants method.
“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all pro-actively funding initiatives was heightened to ‘magic formula’ and assignments were being faraway from the grant funding method and taken care of manually beneath the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Facts Business, Govt Supervisor Lawful so that you can safeguard [the] information,” Nene said in her affidavit.
“There was a lot of interior discussion, with a lot of back and forth, about how to proceed to plug the alleged leaks”, a supply, who was in a senior posture with the NLC at the time, explained to GroundUp. “Ultimately, the choice was taken to remove many of the proactive tasks within the program and Restrict usage of a handful of men and women”.
Some in that handful of folks were implicated in corruption.
Maselwa, who resigned through the NLC various years ago, is implicated in corruption involving lottery money. He acquired R4.3-million from lottery money allocated to build a library and museum complicated in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Music and Arts Expo) which he utilized to build a dwelling within an upmarket gated growth in Pretoria. The home is among many compensated for with lottery resources which were frozen following the Asset Forfeiture Unit acquired a preservation purchase in December 2022.
The politically-connected Nevhutanda, who was appointed as the NLC board chairperson by previous President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near to large-ups inside the ANC Management, previous NLC former Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-Main operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated in the corruption which confused the NLC on their check out.
Also implicated are former board users William Huma, who resigned soon after he was confronted with proof of how he had profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who may have given that died.
Any time a new administration, including the total board and govt, took more than with the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they found out a “chaotic mess” within the documentation associated with proactive funding, A great deal of which was paper-based. Key documents were lacking. Data files held for safekeeping by doc storage firm Metrofile had been signed out and in no way returned.
The NLC was capable of recover copies of some สลาก กิน files from its Mimecast electronic mail archiving system as well as the laptops of their assistants and help personnel.
News studies
In his 1 December 2018 letter, tackled to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has mentioned with grave concern possible information stability breaches plus the unauthorised use and/or dissemination of confidential info attained due to carrying out Formal functions during the Commission by NLC workforce. The pursuits are meant to undermine the integrity in the Fee while disrupting the productive capabilities [in the NLC] and producing insurmountable reputational harm for the Commission as being the custodian of private information entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”
His request for the SSA to investigate was supported in an affidavit by suspended NLC business secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.
Nene is at present going through a disciplinary inquiry soon after she was unsuccessful in authorized motion to set aside findings of irregular expenditure on her check out.
The objective of her affidavit, Nene said, was “to file the events which transpired referring to facts security breaches on the Nationwide Lotteries Commission”.
She stated various information stories which she claimed were being the outcomes of those “breaches” (see at the conclusion of this text).
Nene stated that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that one of its staff members, Sello Qhino, had “provided her categorised NLC Information and facts and persistently encouraged her to provide the knowledge to GroundUp”.
Qhino, who blew the whistle on a number of dodgy lottery-funded tasks in Kuruman right after tries to raise The problem internally were being dismissed, was subsequently fired.
Referring to an eighteen November 2018 post inside the Each day Dispatch with regards to the misappropriation of Lottery resources, Nene stated that the NLC recognized and afterwards suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an staff during the NLC’s East London Workplace, who was the associate along with the mom of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s a few small children.
Rungqu and Makatse believe Rungqu was punished simply because Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and charged internally, with the NLC paying out R470,000 on lawyers to stand for it, but was observed not guilty and permitted to return to operate.
“The widespread factor in these article content is the fact [they include] categorised data relating to proactive funding assignments,” Nene claimed in her affidavit.
When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out in the relatives dwelling to take the heat off her and his kids. Dealing with homelessness, he moved into an Place of work in an vacant manufacturing facility belonging to a buddy.
The two Makatse and Qhino are participating in an NLC reparation course of action intended to recognise the hurt a lot of people suffered for the hands with the NLC. Apologies and, in some cases, fiscal payment are expected.
“Some persons were actually influenced pretty negatively by this … This is basically agonizing,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz instructed the Each day Maverick past calendar year.
“I achieved a couple of these individuals. It absolutely was just so coronary heart-wrenching that their total lives have already been turned upside down,” reported Scholtz.
Between People she satisfied were Qhino and Makatse.
Safe and sound platform desired for whistleblowers
The SSA located the absence at the time of a suitable channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to show for the media.
“Failure to possess a dedicated anti-corruption channel will end in employees presenting these kinds of cases outside of the NLC,” the SSA mentioned in its results.
“Specified the magnitude of corruption in point out establishments, it continues to be crucial that it ensures that the NLC complies with all security prescripts Which its focus is on making sure that unlawful and irregular carry out is adequately mitigated towards and by ensuring an adequate channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward perform devoid of currently being intimidated.”
It advised which the NLC create a “Protected channel” for workers to supply info on any “untoward activity” that could not avoid or discourage employees from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers coverage, dependant on the Guarded Disclosures Act twenty five of 2000, is a necessity.”
Media stories Nene mentioned
A 10 December 2017 report within the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Wellbeing and Conditioning Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has labored intently with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and operator with the Limpopo Mirror, to show NLC corruption. “The short article had factors of information not accessible in the general public domain, thereby boosting worry on internal Information protection breaches. The allegations inside the media were independently investigated,” Nene claimed. “Even so, employees chargeable for divulging categorized facts have however being identified”;
A 28 January 2018 write-up released by the Dally Dispatch “citing several allegations through the Limpopo Mirror posting posted on ten December 2017 and a new allegation referring to a former staff via the identify of Mzukisi Makatse. He was charged and summarily dismissed for your threat caused into the organisation.”
A sixteen November 2018 write-up within the Lowvelder regarding the misappropriation of NLC resources involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has documented how, in spite of obtaining R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab hasn't been accomplished. “The Lowvelder article contained labeled information regarding NLC plan, raising even more fears of internal details safety breaches,” Nene claimed in her affidavit. “The prima facie proof with regards to these allegations didn't warrant an impartial Investigation, on the other hand [it] highlighted the heightened information and facts stability threats in the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose a couple of dodgy R27.5-million grant to Denzhe Main Treatment, a hijacked NPO. Nene claimed GroundUp had verified in its story that it was based on leaked NLC paperwork. This was despite the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Marketing of Access to Information and facts) request for details with regard to the task, she said