The dust had barely settled on the remarkable sequential PowerBall numbers and the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) was again in the spotlight.
On December 1, the winning numbers were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and, the bonus number, 10. Naturally, there was suspicion, but lottery operator Ithuba said worldwide this was not unusual or unheard of. It’s seemingly a quite common set of numbers to select, borne out by 20 people sharing the R114m PowerBall jackpot.
While many were focusing on the winning numbers, legal investigators and authorities were looking much deeper — probing the alleged rot that casts ever-lengthening shadows.
A Sunday Times article this week reported on just one of these: the case of I Am Made for God’s Glory, which received R11m from the NLC after it applied for funding, promising a cricket pitch, soccer and rugby fields, and tennis, volleyball and basketball courts in Thohoyandou, Limpopo.
“Except that the stadium being promised had already been built by the municipality seven years earlier in 2008. Nevertheless, the organisation was given more than R11m for the project,” the Sunday Times report said.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is looking into that funding, as is the Hawks’ serious economic crimes unit, with both investigating the alleged theft of millions from the commission “through allegedly hijacked and ghost non-profit organisations”, according to the newspaper report.
This is good, given the NLC says on its website that it “acts as a catalyst for eradicating poverty and reducing inequality in South Africa, channelling 47% of its annual budget for distribution of funds to a range of good causes”.
There have been ongoing battles between trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel and the commission’s board, and attempts to appoint a new board chair are being delayed.
This is not the first time the NLC has faced scrutiny or been in the spotlight.
There have been ongoing battles between trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel and the commission’s board, and attempts to appoint a new board chair are being delayed.
In early November, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate:
(a) serious maladministration in connection with the affairs of the NLC;
(b) improper or unlawful conduct by employees or officials of the NLC;
(c) unlawful appropriation or expenditure of public money or property;
(d) unlawful, irregular or unapproved acquisitive acts, transactions, measures or practices having a bearing upon state property;
(e) intentional or negligent loss of public money or damage to public property;
(f) offences in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act; and
(g) unlawful or improper conduct by any person, which has caused or may cause serious harm to the interests of the public – “or any category thereof”.
The sequential set of winning numbers has now attracted the public’s attention. Hopefully this will spark citizens to put pressure on authorities to investigate the huge amounts paid to allegedly dodgy organisations.
Given the potential good the NLC millions can do for a populace so desperate for help, this is nothing short of essential.
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