An investigation into South Africa’s National Lotteries Commission (NLC) is being challenged by former chair Alfred Nevhutanda.
Three years ago, the NCL conducted an internal sweep of several high-ranking members after allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds were made against them.
The suspicions of misconduct referred to a period between January 2014 and October 2020, in which Nevhutanda served his tenure as head of the NCL. Following an order in 2020 by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet to investigate the matter further, the national sports pools and lottery regulator has since been closely monitored by authorities.
A notable development in the case came earlier in February, when the South African Special Investigating Unit (SIU) seized R10m (£1.3m) in proceeds generated from the sale of a house in Pretoria, which is said to be a property of the BDH Family Trust – an entity linked to the NCL through former NCL board member William Elias Huma.
“The SIU found that NLC funds were used to purchase this property,” an official government statement read.
Now, Nevhutanda has filed a lawsuit against the investigation, claiming that there are no reasonable grounds for it as it does not fully meet the requirements for a probe by the SIU into a state institution that handles public funds. He has also accused President Ramaphosa of not being well informed before approving the investigation.
However, Ramaphosa has countered by highlighting that evidence of corruption and abuse of power have been found by the Justice Minister himself.
Since the SIU began investigating in 2020, it has seized a total of R344m of personal assets believed to have been acquired with lottery proceeds.
Lottery goes south in South Africa
Things are not looking good for the South African national lottery in general. In addition to the trouble that the NCL has found itself in, the tender process to find a replacement for the current licence holder Ithuba is also not going well.
Ithuba is set to retire its licence at the end of May after first receiving it back in 2015. Usually an eight-year contract, the company was granted an extension in 2023 after the NCL defended its underperformance with earnings being lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, a little over a month until its licence finally expires, a replacement has still not been found yet. Parks Tau, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, who is in charge of the licence renewal process, has been reported to have changed the conditions last second, sparking allegations of serving Ithuba’s corporate interests.