Lottery bosses turned to Condition Safety Agency to research leaks

Lottery bosses turned to Condition Safety Agency to research leaks

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Former Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda questioned the Condition Safety Agency (SSA) in December 2018 to research the leaking of documents that uncovered lottery corruption.
The NLC’s enterprise secretary at enough time detailed media studies she stated ended up based upon “stolen” details within an affidavit with the SSA.
The SSA did investigate. It located the data wasn't a issue of point out safety and which the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “sufficient motive” to the media to expose it.
A fresh board and administration has given that taken over the NLC and To this point have taken actions to end corruption at the institution.
A State Safety Company (SSA) investigation found the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “delivered ample motive” for exposure through the media.

The probe into meant “details security breaches and sabotage of NLC operations” was carried out immediately 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 request, and
the security company’s “private” findings and recommendations.
Nevhutanda questioned the SSA to analyze the function of NLC staff within the alleged leaking of knowledge, and Nene, in her affidavit determined unique media and reports that she claimed associated these leaks.

During the letter outlining its findings, the SSA told the NLC that when preserving condition details was “a legal imperative directed at preserving the sovereignty and integrity of your condition” this only applied to correctly labeled facts.

Although it did not say so directly, the SSA findings implied the allegedly leaked information did not fall into this class.

Substantially, the SSA made it crystal clear that the necessity to safeguard point out information “doesn't avoid any personal from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminal activity”.

The SSA investigation located that the NLC information linked to the alleged breach was “delicate and privileged in nature, although not categorized with regards to the prescripts of the Least Details Stability Criteria (Skip)”.

“The leakage with the pertinent delicate Formal NLC info to your media does not pose a risk to nationwide protection,” the SSA claimed, introducing which the influence in the breaches was reputational.

The SSA report located “no evidence of a factual and incriminating nature towards any from the suspected NLC staff that might be recognized from the information and details interrogated”.

Additionally, it mentioned that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities in the NLC and at its beneficiaries does supply enough motive to own this kind of uncovered within the media”.

Conspiracy promises
In 2020, Nevhutanda informed MPs all through a session of Parliament’s trade, market and competition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” through which information “stolen” from your NLC was sent to your US, where he claimed it was getting offered to fund a smear campaign towards the NLC.

He was repeating equivalent claims he experienced Beforehand designed in Parliament, which involved advertisement hominem attacks on GroundUp which reporter but was thorough not to name either.

“I arrived listed here On this August residence last calendar year and described to honourable members that specifics of our beneficiaries has actually been stolen and put in a single point out in the united states,” he explained to MPs.

“We named on the Condition Protection Company to come back consider the subject since we are getting reports that our details is generating money for media platforms and journalists,” he mentioned. “There have been chat, naturally from a single supply, a person media, that spoke Considerably about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda said (referring to GroundUp), but failed to inform MPs that the SSA investigation were accomplished Virtually a 12 months earlier.

Proactive funding was at the guts with the looting on the lottery. It facet-stepped the normal grant approach. The NLC could by itself identify a task to fund and appoint a non-financial gain organisation to supervise it.

After Nevhutanda initial informed Parliament in 2018 that he had questioned the SSA to research the intended breach, the South African National Editors Forum issued a press release indicating that his remarks reflected “an incredibly hazardous Perspective in which the media is being blamed for that NLC’s inherent challenges”.

“As an alternative to investigating why millions can not be accounted for, the NLC has rather attempted to cast question to the integrity of your journalists associated and has asked the SSA to analyze their resources.”

Proactive initiatives manufactured key
Stability flaws determined while in the NLC grant funding system in the SSA’s investigation, appear to are made use of being an justification by the NLC to remove all proactive-funded tasks from its central grants program.

“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all pro-actively funding tasks was heightened to ‘key’ and tasks had been faraway from the grant funding process and preserved manually under the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Information Business, Government Supervisor Authorized as a way to safeguard [the] information,” Nene claimed in her affidavit.

“There was plenty of interior discussion, with a great deal of back and forth, about what to do to plug the alleged leaks”, a supply, who was inside of a senior place with the NLC at some time, told GroundUp. “Ultimately, the decision was taken to remove each of the proactive assignments with the procedure and Restrict use of a handful of folks”.

Some in that handful of individuals have been implicated in corruption.

Maselwa, who resigned in the NLC a number of many years back, has actually been implicated in corruption involving lottery cash. He obtained R4.three-million from lottery money allotted to construct a library and museum complex in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Audio and Arts Expo) which he utilized to develop a home in an upmarket gated enhancement in Pretoria. The home is one of quite a few paid for with lottery funds that were frozen following the Asset Forfeiture Unit acquired a preservation buy in December 2022.

The politically-linked Nevhutanda, who was appointed as being the NLC board chairperson by previous President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near to significant-ups during the ANC Management, previous NLC former Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated in the corruption which confused the NLC on their own look at.

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, who's got given that died.

When a new administration, including the entire board and government, took over with the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they found a “chaotic mess” from the documentation relating to proactive funding, Substantially of which was paper-based. Crucial paperwork ended up lacking. Data files held for safekeeping by doc storage enterprise Metrofile were signed out and by no means returned.

The NLC was capable of Recuperate copies of some hihuay files from its Mimecast electronic mail archiving method along with the laptops in their assistants and guidance team.

Information experiences
In his one December 2018 letter, dealt with to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has pointed out with grave worry probable information and facts protection breaches plus the unauthorised use and/or dissemination of confidential info obtained due to doing official features within the Fee by NLC staff. The activities are intended to undermine the integrity of your Commission when disrupting the efficient features [of your NLC] and leading to insurmountable reputational damage to the Commission since the custodian of non-public facts entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”

His ask for for the SSA to investigate was supported within an affidavit by suspended NLC company secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.

Nene is at present going through a disciplinary inquiry soon after she was unsuccessful in authorized action to put aside results of irregular expenditure on her watch.

The purpose of her affidavit, Nene mentioned, was “to report the situations which transpired regarding facts safety breaches in the Nationwide Lotteries Fee”.

She stated several information stories which she claimed have been the outcome of these “breaches” (see at the conclusion of this article).

Nene mentioned that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that one of its staff members, Sello Qhino, experienced “supplied her categorized NLC Details and persistently encouraged her to offer the knowledge to GroundUp”.

Qhino, who blew the whistle over a series of dodgy lottery-funded assignments in Kuruman following attempts to lift The problem internally ended up dismissed, was subsequently fired.

Referring to an 18 November 2018 post while in the Each day Dispatch concerning the misappropriation of Lottery funds, Nene mentioned that the NLC identified and after that suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an staff during the NLC’s East London Business office, who was the companion and the mother of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s three little ones.

Rungqu and Makatse imagine Rungqu was punished since Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and billed internally, Using the NLC shelling out R470,000 on attorneys to stand for it, but was discovered not guilty and permitted to return to operate.

“The typical Consider these article content is the fact that [they include] classified information referring to proactive funding jobs,” Nene explained in her affidavit.

When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out with the household residence to go ahead and take heat off her and his small children. Experiencing homelessness, he moved into an Business office in an empty factory belonging to a buddy.

Both Makatse and Qhino are participating in an NLC reparation approach meant to recognise the hurt a number of people endured within the arms of your NLC. Apologies and, in some instances, economic compensation are anticipated.

“Some folks have been actually impacted very negatively by this … This is actually unpleasant,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz informed the Day-to-day Maverick previous yr.

“I achieved a number of these people. It absolutely was just so heart-wrenching that their complete life happen to be turned the wrong way up,” claimed Scholtz.

Among These she satisfied ended up Qhino and Makatse.

Harmless System desired for whistleblowers
The SSA discovered the absence at the time of a proper channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to show to your media.

“Failure to possess a devoted anti-corruption channel will lead to employees presenting such conditions beyond the NLC,” the SSA stated in its conclusions.

“Presented the magnitude of corruption in state establishments, it remains important that it ensures that the NLC complies with all protection prescripts Which its target is on making sure that illegal and irregular conduct is adequately mitigated versus and by ensuring an ample channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward perform without getting intimidated.”

It encouraged which the NLC build a “Harmless channel” for workers to deliver info on any “untoward action” that might not avert or discourage personnel from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers coverage, depending on the Guarded Disclosures Act twenty five of 2000, is usually a prerequisite.”

Media reviews Nene listed
A ten December 2017 report within the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Health and Conditioning Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has worked carefully with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and operator in the Limpopo Mirror, to show NLC corruption. “The article had things of data not obtainable in the public area, therefore increasing issue on interior Info safety breaches. The allegations inside the media have been independently investigated,” Nene explained. “Having said that, workforce responsible for divulging classified information and facts have nonetheless being determined”;
A 28 January 2018 write-up published via the Dally Dispatch “citing quite a few allegations in the Limpopo Mirror posting revealed on ten December 2017 as well as a new allegation relating to a former personnel by the name of Mzukisi Makatse. He was charged and summarily dismissed for that danger triggered on the organisation.”
A sixteen November 2018 posting within the Lowvelder with regards to the misappropriation of NLC resources involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has claimed how, Despite obtaining R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab has not been accomplished. “The Lowvelder report contained categorized info with regards to NLC policy, increasing even more considerations of interior facts safety breaches,” Nene said in her affidavit. “The prima facie evidence with regards to these allegations did not warrant an impartial Investigation, nevertheless [it] highlighted the heightened facts security pitfalls throughout the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose about a dodgy R27.5-million grant to Denzhe Key Treatment, a hijacked NPO. Nene said GroundUp had confirmed in its story that it was depending on leaked NLC paperwork. This was despite the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Marketing of Entry to Details) request for specifics in regards to the job, she explained

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