Lottery bosses turned to State Protection Company to analyze leaks

Lottery bosses turned to State Protection Company to analyze leaks

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Former Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda questioned the Condition Security Company (SSA) in December 2018 to investigate the leaking of paperwork that uncovered lottery corruption.
The NLC’s enterprise secretary at time mentioned media studies she said have been according to “stolen” facts within an affidavit for the SSA.
The SSA did investigate. It identified the knowledge was not a issue of condition safety and the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “ample motive” for your media to expose it.
A fresh board and management has because taken more than the NLC and thus far have taken steps to end corruption at the establishment.
A State Stability Agency (SSA) investigation uncovered the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “provided sufficient motive” for publicity through the media.

The probe into meant “details protection breaches and sabotage of NLC functions” was undertaken soon after then-NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda wrote to the SSA in December 2018 requesting it to research.

Here is

Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by at this time suspended NLC company secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the request, and
the security company’s “private” conclusions and proposals.
Nevhutanda questioned the SSA to research the position of NLC staff members from the alleged leaking of knowledge, and Nene, in her affidavit recognized certain media and reviews that she claimed associated these leaks.

From the letter outlining its results, the SSA told the NLC that though shielding state information and facts was “a authorized imperative targeted at guarding the sovereignty and integrity with the state” this only applied to properly categorised info.

Although it did not say so specifically, the SSA conclusions implied which the allegedly leaked info did not drop into this class.

Appreciably, the SSA built it clear that the necessity to secure point out information and facts “does not prevent any individual from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminality”.

The SSA investigation observed the NLC info linked to the alleged breach was “sensitive and privileged in mother nature, but not categorised with regards to the prescripts on the Minimal Information Protection Criteria (MISS)”.

“The leakage of the pertinent sensitive Formal NLC information and facts to the media doesn't pose a danger to countrywide security,” the SSA reported, adding which the effect on the breaches was reputational.

The SSA report located “no proof of the factual and incriminating nature against any with the suspected NLC workforce which could be recognized from the knowledge and knowledge interrogated”.

It also said that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities in the NLC and at its beneficiaries does offer sufficient motive to have these uncovered in the media”.

Conspiracy promises
In 2020, Nevhutanda advised MPs for the duration of a session of Parliament’s trade, market and Level of competition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” in which data “stolen” from the NLC was sent towards the US, the place he claimed it had been currently being marketed to fund a smear campaign in opposition to the NLC.

He was repeating related claims he experienced Beforehand designed in Parliament, which involved advertisement hominem attacks on GroundUp which reporter but was mindful not to call both.

“I came below In this particular August home past yr and reported to honourable customers that information about our beneficiaries has actually been stolen and put in one condition in the usa,” he informed MPs.

“We named on the State Safety Agency to come back check into the make any difference simply because we're acquiring studies that our data is making dollars for media platforms and journalists,” he claimed. “There was chat, naturally from one particular source, a person media, that spoke A great deal about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda explained (referring to GroundUp), but failed to notify MPs that the SSA investigation were completed Just about a year previously.

Proactive funding was at the guts in the looting of your lottery. It side-stepped the conventional grant system. The NLC could itself discover a challenge to fund and appoint a non-revenue organisation to oversee it.

Soon after Nevhutanda initially explained to Parliament in 2018 that he experienced questioned the SSA to research the intended breach, the South African Nationwide Editors Forum issued a statement indicating that his remarks mirrored “a very unsafe Frame of mind in which the media is getting blamed for your NLC’s inherent problems”.

“Rather then investigating why thousands and thousands cannot be accounted for, the NLC has as a substitute tried to Solid question around the integrity of your journalists involved and has requested the SSA to analyze their resources.”

Proactive tasks designed secret
Security flaws recognized while in the NLC grant funding procedure during the SSA’s investigation, appear to have already been employed as an justification by the NLC to eliminate all proactive-funded initiatives from its central grants process.

“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all pro-actively funding projects was heightened to ‘secret’ and initiatives have been removed from the grant funding process and taken care of manually underneath the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Data Workplace, Govt Supervisor Legal so that you can safeguard [the] details,” Nene reported in her affidavit.

“There was plenty of inside dialogue, with lots of back and forth, about what to do to plug the alleged leaks”, a source, who was in the senior situation within the NLC at some time, explained to GroundUp. “Eventually, the choice was taken to get rid of every one of the proactive assignments through the program and limit usage of a handful of individuals”.

Some in that handful of people were being implicated in corruption.

Maselwa, who resigned within the NLC many a long time ago, has long been implicated in corruption involving lottery funds. He obtained R4.three-million from lottery cash allotted to make a library and museum complex in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Songs and Arts Expo) which he used to build a property within an upmarket gated progress in Pretoria. The property is among a number of paid out for with lottery cash which were frozen after the Asset Forfeiture Unit acquired a preservation purchase in December 2022.

The politically-connected Nevhutanda, who was appointed as being the NLC board chairperson by previous President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near to superior-ups within the ANC leadership, previous NLC previous Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated during the corruption which confused the NLC on their watch.

Also implicated are previous board associates William Huma, who resigned following he was confronted with proof of how he had profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who's got given that died.

Any time a new administration, including the overall board and govt, took above for the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they found a “chaotic mess” while in the documentation concerning proactive funding, A lot of which was paper-based mostly. Critical paperwork ended up lacking. Documents held for safekeeping by document storage firm Metrofile had been signed out and in no way returned.

The NLC was capable of recover copies of some ผล สลาก documents from its Mimecast e-mail archiving technique plus the laptops in their assistants and assist staff members.

News studies
In his 1 December 2018 letter, addressed to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has pointed out with grave issue doable facts safety breaches as well as the unauthorised use and/or dissemination of private data obtained due to executing Formal functions from the Commission by NLC personnel. The actions are intended to undermine the integrity of your Commission although disrupting the helpful functions [on the NLC] and producing insurmountable reputational hurt towards the Commission because the custodian of non-public facts entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”

His ask for to the SSA to research was supported in an affidavit by suspended NLC organization secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.

Nene is at present going through a disciplinary inquiry soon after she was unsuccessful in legal motion to set aside conclusions of irregular expenditure on her enjoy.

The objective of her affidavit, Nene stated, was “to history the gatherings which transpired referring to information and facts safety breaches at the Nationwide Lotteries Fee”.

She outlined several information reviews which she claimed ended up the results of these “breaches” (see at the end of this information).

Nene stated that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that one among its staff members, Sello Qhino, experienced “delivered her categorised NLC Information and facts and persistently inspired her to offer the knowledge to GroundUp”.

Qhino, who blew the whistle on the number of dodgy lottery-funded jobs in Kuruman just after makes an attempt to raise The difficulty internally have been dismissed, was subsequently fired.

Referring to an eighteen November 2018 report inside the Every day Dispatch about the misappropriation of Lottery money, Nene said the NLC discovered after which suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an personnel within the NLC’s East London Office environment, who was the partner along with the mom of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s 3 small children.

Rungqu and Makatse think Rungqu was punished due to the fact Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and charged internally, Together with the NLC paying out R470,000 on attorneys to depict it, but was located not guilty and permitted to return to operate.

“The popular factor in these content is the fact that [they entail] labeled information referring to proactive funding assignments,” Nene claimed in her affidavit.

When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out of your family members house to take the warmth off her and his children. Facing homelessness, he moved into an office within an empty factory belonging to a friend.

Both of those Makatse and Qhino are taking part in an NLC reparation procedure meant to recognise the damage some individuals experienced on the arms on the NLC. Apologies and, in some cases, fiscal compensation are anticipated.

“Some people today had been seriously affected really negatively by this … This is admittedly painful,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz informed the Day-to-day Maverick very last calendar year.

“I achieved a couple of these people. It was just so coronary heart-wrenching that their full life are turned the other way up,” explained Scholtz.

Amid Individuals she met were Qhino and Makatse.

Harmless platform required for whistleblowers
The SSA found the absence at enough time of a proper channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to show towards the media.

“Failure to possess a dedicated anti-corruption channel will end in workers presenting these instances beyond the NLC,” the SSA reported in its findings.

“Presented the magnitude of corruption in point out establishments, it continues to be essential that it makes sure that the NLC complies with all safety prescripts and that its emphasis is on guaranteeing that unlawful and irregular carry out is adequately mitigated in opposition to and by making certain an satisfactory channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward conduct without having becoming intimidated.”

It suggested which the NLC create a “Risk-free channel” for employees to deliver information on any “untoward exercise” that could not avoid or discourage workers from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers coverage, depending on the Shielded Disclosures Act 25 of 2000, is often a requirement.”

Media stories Nene listed
A 10 December 2017 report from the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Well being and Exercise Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has labored intently with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and operator of the Limpopo Mirror, to expose NLC corruption. “The write-up had factors of knowledge not offered in the public domain, thus boosting worry on inside Data safety breaches. The allegations within the media were independently investigated,” Nene reported. “On the other hand, personnel liable for divulging classified facts have but to be recognized”;
A 28 January 2018 article revealed by the Dally Dispatch “citing quite a few allegations within the Limpopo Mirror write-up released on ten December 2017 and a new allegation associated with a former worker because of the title of Mzukisi Makatse. He was billed and summarily dismissed for that menace brought about into the organisation.”
A sixteen November 2018 short article from the Lowvelder with regard to the misappropriation of NLC cash involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has documented how, in spite of acquiring R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab has not been finished. “The Lowvelder article contained labeled details when it comes to NLC coverage, raising even further issues of inside info protection breaches,” Nene said in her affidavit. “The prima facie evidence regarding these allegations didn't warrant an unbiased Investigation, however [it] highlighted the heightened details protection threats throughout the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose a few dodgy R27.five-million grant to Denzhe Primary Treatment, a hijacked NPO. Nene reported GroundUp experienced verified in its story that it was depending on leaked NLC documents. This was Regardless of the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Advertising of Use of Details) request for details about the challenge, she claimed

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