Former Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda asked the Condition Protection Company (SSA) in December 2018 to analyze the leaking of files that uncovered lottery corruption.
The NLC’s firm secretary at enough time stated media experiences she reported were being according to “stolen” info within an affidavit for that SSA.
The SSA did examine. It located the information wasn't a subject of state protection and that the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “sufficient motive” for the media to reveal it.
A brand new board and administration has considering that taken more than the NLC and So far have taken measures to finish corruption with the establishment.
A Condition Security Agency (SSA) investigation located that the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “delivered sufficient motive” for exposure through the media.
The probe into meant “data protection breaches and sabotage of NLC operations” was undertaken immediately after then-NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda wrote to your SSA in December 2018 requesting it to analyze.
Here's
Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by at this time suspended NLC organization secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the ask for, and
the safety agency’s “private” results and suggestions.
Nevhutanda asked the SSA to investigate the role of NLC team from the alleged leaking of information, and Nene, in her affidavit determined specific media and studies that she claimed associated these leaks.
Inside the letter outlining its conclusions, the SSA told the NLC that though defending condition information and facts was “a lawful crucial aimed toward safeguarding the sovereignty and integrity with the point out” this only placed on properly categorized information and facts.
Even though it did not say so immediately, the SSA findings implied which the allegedly leaked facts did not fall into this group.
Noticeably, the SSA manufactured it very clear that the need to protect condition info “does not reduce any unique from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminal activity”.
The SSA investigation discovered which the NLC details linked to the alleged breach was “sensitive and privileged in character, although not categorised with regards to the prescripts with the Minimum amount Info Security Expectations (Overlook)”.
“The leakage with the suitable delicate Formal NLC data on the media isn't going to pose a risk to countrywide protection,” the SSA reported, incorporating that the influence in the breaches was reputational.
The SSA report uncovered “no proof of a factual and incriminating character towards any from the suspected NLC staff that might be recognized from the data and data interrogated”.
Furthermore, it stated that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities inside the NLC and at its beneficiaries does supply sufficient motive to have these uncovered inside the media”.
Conspiracy claims
In 2020, Nevhutanda instructed MPs in the course of a session of Parliament’s trade, marketplace and Opposition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” where facts “stolen” in the NLC was sent towards the US, in which he claimed it was being bought to fund a smear campaign against the NLC.
He was repeating comparable claims he experienced previously manufactured in Parliament, which incorporated advert hominem attacks on GroundUp and this reporter but was very careful not to name both.
“I arrived here With this August house previous calendar year and described to honourable users that information about our beneficiaries has become stolen and set in a single condition in the united states,” he advised MPs.
“We identified as to the Condition Safety Agency to come back investigate the subject mainly because we're obtaining experiences that our facts is producing money for media platforms and journalists,” he reported. “There was talk, not surprisingly from a single resource, one particular media, that spoke A lot about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda said (referring to GroundUp), but did not inform MPs the SSA investigation were done Virtually a yr previously.
Proactive funding was at the heart of your looting from the lottery. It side-stepped the traditional grant procedure. The NLC could alone detect a undertaking to fund and appoint a non-revenue organisation to supervise it.
Just after Nevhutanda initial informed Parliament in 2018 that he had asked the SSA to research the intended breach, the South African Nationwide Editors Forum issued an announcement expressing that his remarks reflected “a very hazardous Mindset where by the media is currently being blamed for the NLC’s inherent challenges”.
“As an alternative to investigating why millions can't be accounted for, the NLC has rather attempted to Forged question over the integrity in the journalists associated and has asked the SSA to research their resources.”
Proactive projects manufactured top secret
Security flaws recognized from the NLC grant funding procedure throughout the SSA’s investigation, seem to are applied being an justification with the NLC to get rid of all proactive-funded assignments from its central grants technique.
“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all pro-actively funding projects was heightened to ‘secret’ and initiatives have been removed from the grant funding procedure and preserved manually under the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Information and facts Office environment, Executive Manager Lawful as a way to safeguard [the] information,” Nene explained in her affidavit.
“There was lots of inner dialogue, with plenty of backwards and forwards, about how to proceed to plug the alleged leaks”, a resource, who was in a senior place on the NLC at enough time, instructed GroundUp. “Eventually, the choice was taken to eliminate all the proactive projects in the method and Restrict use of a handful of folks”.
Some in that handful of people were implicated in corruption.
Maselwa, who resigned within the NLC various a long time back, has long been implicated in corruption involving lottery money. He been given R4.3-million from lottery cash allotted to create a library and museum intricate in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural New music and Arts Expo) which he utilised to make a residence in an upmarket gated enhancement in Pretoria. The property is one of many paid out for with lottery cash which were frozen once the Asset Forfeiture Device attained a preservation get in December 2022.
The politically-related Nevhutanda, who was appointed as the NLC board chairperson by former President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near superior-ups during the ANC Management, former NLC former Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-Main running officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated from the corruption which overcome the NLC on their own enjoy.
Also implicated are former board users William Huma, who resigned immediately after he was confronted with evidence of how he experienced profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, that has since died.
Any time a new administration, including the total board and govt, took above within the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they uncovered a “chaotic mess” during the documentation associated with proactive funding, A great deal of which was paper-primarily based. Essential files were being lacking. Data files held for safekeeping by doc storage enterprise Metrofile were signed out and never returned.
The NLC was in a position to recover copies of some hihuay files from its Mimecast email archiving technique as well as laptops in their assistants and assistance workers.
News studies
In his 1 December 2018 letter, tackled to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has famous with grave problem attainable data protection breaches along with the unauthorised use and/or dissemination of confidential info attained due to executing Formal features within the Fee by NLC staff. The actions are meant to undermine the integrity from the Commission while disrupting the productive functions [on the NLC] and causing insurmountable reputational harm on the Fee as the custodian of personal data entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”
His ask for with the SSA to analyze was supported within an affidavit by suspended NLC company secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.
Nene is at present going through a disciplinary inquiry immediately after she was unsuccessful in authorized action to set aside conclusions of irregular expenditure on her check out.
The goal of her affidavit, Nene explained, was “to file the activities which transpired relating to information protection breaches with the National Lotteries Fee”.
She outlined many news stories which she claimed had been the effects of these “breaches” (see at the end of this short article).
Nene claimed that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that among its staff members, Sello Qhino, experienced “supplied her labeled NLC Information and facts and persistently encouraged her to provide the information to GroundUp”.
Qhino, who blew the whistle on a series of dodgy lottery-funded projects in Kuruman right after attempts to raise The difficulty internally were being disregarded, was subsequently fired.
Referring to an eighteen November 2018 short article from the Day-to-day Dispatch in regards to the misappropriation of Lottery money, Nene said which the NLC recognized and then suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an personnel within the NLC’s East London Business, who was the spouse and the mother of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s 3 children.
Rungqu and Makatse imagine Rungqu was punished because Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and charged internally, Together with the NLC expending R470,000 on lawyers to symbolize it, but was located not responsible and allowed to return to work.
“The typical factor in these content articles is [they include] categorized info relating to proactive funding jobs,” Nene claimed in her affidavit.
When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out on the loved ones home to go ahead and take warmth off her and his young children. Dealing with homelessness, he moved into an Business in an empty manufacturing unit belonging to a pal.
Both equally Makatse and Qhino are participating in an NLC reparation approach meant to recognise the hurt many people endured for the arms of the NLC. Apologies and, in some cases, monetary compensation are expected.
“Some people had been actually affected very negatively by this … This is really agonizing,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz explained to the Daily Maverick past 12 months.
“I fulfilled a number of these individuals. It was just so heart-wrenching that their total life are actually turned the wrong way up,” reported Scholtz.
Among the These she satisfied were being Qhino and Makatse.
Safe System wanted for whistleblowers
The SSA uncovered the absence at enough time of a correct channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to show to your media.
“Failure to have a committed anti-corruption channel will lead to employees presenting these types of circumstances beyond the NLC,” the SSA stated in its results.
“Supplied the magnitude of corruption in point out establishments, it remains vital that it makes sure that the NLC complies with all stability prescripts Which its concentration is on making certain that illegal and irregular conduct is adequately mitigated against and by making sure an adequate channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward perform without the need of remaining intimidated.”
It encouraged the NLC establish a “Harmless channel” for employees to provide information on any “untoward exercise” that might not stop or discourage workforce from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers policy, based on the Safeguarded Disclosures Act twenty five of 2000, is actually a prerequisite.”
Media reports Nene detailed
A ten December 2017 report during the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Well being and Health Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has worked carefully with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and proprietor with the Limpopo Mirror, to show NLC corruption. “The article experienced features of data not out there in the general public domain, thus increasing problem on interior Information and facts protection breaches. The allegations inside the media were independently investigated,” Nene reported. “Even so, staff accountable for divulging labeled info have still to become determined”;
A 28 January 2018 post released by the Dally Dispatch “citing several allegations with the Limpopo Mirror article printed on 10 December 2017 as well as a new allegation regarding a former worker through the name of Mzukisi Makatse. He was charged and summarily dismissed for the threat caused to the organisation.”
A sixteen November 2018 report inside the Lowvelder with regards to the misappropriation of NLC money involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has reported how, Regardless of receiving R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab has not been completed. “The Lowvelder report contained classified facts with regards to NLC coverage, boosting more problems of interior info safety breaches,” Nene claimed in her affidavit. “The prima facie proof with regards to these allegations didn't warrant an impartial Investigation, having said that [it] highlighted the heightened information security risks within the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose a few dodgy R27.five-million grant to Denzhe Principal Care, a hijacked NPO. Nene said GroundUp experienced confirmed in its Tale that it had been depending on leaked NLC documents. This was Regardless of the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Promotion of Usage of Data) request for aspects with regards to the undertaking, she reported