WE are a nation of spectators. That is clear from the way we sit back and allow decision-makers to get away with iniquitous behaviour.

The National Lotteries Board (NLB) has inflicted a grave injustice on deserving organisations that are at the coalface of alleviating poverty and providing succour to the destitute. Various branches of Child Welfare, which provides assistance to 65000 orphans and vulnerable children, have had applications denied owing to an "administrative error".

The Abraham Kriel Home in Johannesburg, which has been looking after orphans since 1902, faces closure - but the NLB and its distribution agencies are happy to allocate money to expensive youth festivals and trade union activities.

How can people continue to queue to buy Lotto tickets after the Supreme Court of Appeal issued a judgment that represents a serious indictment of the NLB and the distribution agencies? The SCA said that "in total, in 2009, the fund had R6-billion in unallocated funds" - R6-billion that could make a huge difference to charity organisations.

The court went further: "The board does not appear to understand its mandate properly" because the chairman seems to hold the view that "grants given by the board are 'gratuities' allocated at the board's discretion".

This was "wrong", said the SCA: "The board holds public funds in trust for the purpose of allocating them to deserving projects. And it must ensure that these funds are allocated to those projects, provided, of course, that they meet the necessary requirements. The funds do not belong to the board to be disbursed as its largesse."

It is preposterous that, given this emphatic judgment, the chairman and his board are still in office.

The largest amount awarded - R41-million - to an arts and culture organisation in the 2010/11 financial year went to Makhaya Arts and Culture, an NGO that employs the daughter of NLB chairman Dr Alfred Nevhutanda.

The board argues she was employed only two months after the money was awarded. So what? Are we supposed to overlook the strange coincidence that an NGO that received the biggest slice of the pie has links to the family of the man in charge?

If people related to power should not be disadvantaged, then who is championing the cause of those who are disadvantaged and are not getting jobs, tenders and promotions precisely because they are not lucky enough to be related to power? I cannot believe we are meant to buy this argument.

It was also reported by this newspaper that organisations led by some who sit on the lotteries board have secured funds for their causes. Even then, we were not meant to draw any inferences because "the members left the room when their applications came up for discussion".

The b oard does not think much of our intelligence if it believes it can get away with such a pathetic answer. When someone physically leaves the room, it does not change his or her proximity to power. It also does not in any way obliterate the allegiance he or she has with those left in the room.

All of these shenanigans say far more about the public than the NLB and its distribution agencies. We are a passive people; happy to moan, but continuing to support organisations that treat us with disdain. The public has the power to bring the Lotto to its knees until this mess is cleaned up. It cannot be correct for money to continue to pour in and for us to "tata ma chance" while the NLB takes us for a ride.

South Africans must boycott the Lotto. This will be a very painful process for the charities who depend on the little they receive, but sacrifices must be for us to start with a clean slate. As for punters who are only in it for a chance to be millionaires: sorry to disillusion you, but you have a greater chance of being devoured by a man-eating extraterrestrial than of winning the Lotto.