The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) of South Africa has reassured that solid progress is being made towards the recovery of personal assets allegedly bought with NLC grants.
Closely working with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Commission is in the process of investigating alleged lottery funds misappropriation between 2014 and 2020, with fingers pointing at the then-NLC management.
Barney Pityana, Chairperson of the NLC, commented: “The board is encouraged by the level of cooperation between the Commission, the SIU and the NPA, which reflects a shared commitment to accountability.
“At the heart of this work are the beneficiaries, and our focus remains on ensuring that they receive the support intended for them, while continuing to strengthen governance systems across the organisation.”
Embroiled in the investigation is also former NLC Chair Alfred Nevhutanda, who tried to legally challenge the probe last year, arguing that the NCL falls outside of the remit of the SIU, and that the investigation was approved in 2020 by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa without reasonable grounds. Lottery Daily has extensively covered the matter.
Investigations have continued regardless, with the latest statement from the NLC ensuring that they are going in the right direction.
Jodi Scholtz, NLC Commissioner, added: “At the heart of this work is a simple commitment to ensure that beneficiaries are not disadvantaged. Through our collaboration with the SIU and NPA, we are steadily moving towards restoring both funds and trust.”
The regulator further promised that funds are being “actively traced, secured and recovered”, but in practice matters take a more intricate shape.
Both the SIU and the NLC are potentially looking at illegitimate contracts valued at more than R2bn (£88.2m), but have so far only recovered around R9.5m (£418,000), the Independent Online reported.
Furthermore, official prosecutions are yet to take place, with another local news outlet, GroundUp, reporting that investigation representatives failed to turn up at a recent hearing and testify about the progress made so far.
Coupled with a new National Lottery operator that has been embroiled in controversy even before it takes over, and a Minister of Trade who is also no stranger to allegations of corporate entanglement, the lottery sector in South Africa is continuing to provide more and more talking points and what seems to be endless drama.