Lottery bosses turned to State Stability Company to investigate leaks

Lottery bosses turned to State Stability Company to investigate leaks

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Former Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda asked the Condition Safety Agency (SSA) in December 2018 to analyze the leaking of paperwork that exposed lottery corruption.
The NLC’s firm secretary at enough time shown media reviews she mentioned had been based upon “stolen” details in an affidavit for that SSA.
The SSA did investigate. It uncovered the information wasn't a subject of state stability and that the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “sufficient motive” for that media to expose it.
A completely new board and management has since taken above the NLC and Up to now have taken measures to end corruption for the establishment.
A State Safety Agency (SSA) investigation located the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “delivered enough motive” for publicity because of the media.

The probe into intended “data security breaches and sabotage of NLC operations” was carried out soon after then-NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda wrote for the SSA in December 2018 requesting it to investigate.

Here's

Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by now suspended NLC corporation secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the request, and
the security company’s “confidential” results and recommendations.
Nevhutanda requested the SSA to analyze the position of NLC staff inside the alleged leaking of knowledge, and Nene, in her affidavit recognized certain media and reviews that she claimed involved these leaks.

Inside the letter outlining its results, the SSA instructed the NLC that though safeguarding condition information and facts was “a legal critical geared toward shielding the sovereignty and integrity from the state” this only applied to correctly labeled information.

Even though it didn't say so directly, the SSA results implied the allegedly leaked information did not slide into this classification.

Significantly, the SSA manufactured it apparent that the need to safeguard state info “would not reduce any individual from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminality”.

The SSA investigation uncovered the NLC facts associated with the alleged breach was “sensitive and privileged in nature, although not categorized concerning the prescripts from the Bare minimum Facts Security Benchmarks (Overlook)”.

“The leakage with the related delicate Formal NLC facts for the media isn't going to pose a danger to nationwide stability,” the SSA mentioned, introducing which the effect with the breaches was reputational.

The SSA report discovered “no evidence of a factual and incriminating character versus any from the suspected NLC staff members that might be discovered from the information and facts interrogated”.

What's more, it mentioned that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities throughout the NLC and at its beneficiaries does deliver sufficient motive to acquire such uncovered inside the media”.

Conspiracy promises
In 2020, Nevhutanda advised MPs for the duration of a session of Parliament’s trade, market and Competitors portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” where data “stolen” from the NLC was sent to your US, where he claimed it was getting offered to fund a smear campaign in opposition to the NLC.

He was repeating identical promises he experienced Earlier designed in Parliament, which involved advertisement hominem attacks on GroundUp and this reporter but was very careful not to call either.

“I arrived below With this August household past calendar year and described to honourable customers that information regarding our beneficiaries has actually been stolen and put in one point out in America,” he instructed MPs.

“We known as to the Point out Security Agency to come back consider the subject simply because we have been obtaining reports that our facts is generating dollars for media platforms and journalists,” he stated. “There's been converse, of course from a single source, 1 media, that spoke Considerably about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda explained (referring to GroundUp), but failed to convey to MPs the SSA investigation had been finished Nearly a year previously.

Proactive funding was at the guts with the looting in the lottery. It side-stepped the traditional grant method. The NLC could alone recognize a project to fund and appoint a non-financial gain organisation to supervise it.

Right after Nevhutanda to start with told Parliament in 2018 that he had asked the SSA to investigate the supposed breach, the South African National Editors Forum issued a statement stating that his remarks reflected “a particularly risky Mindset the place the media is being blamed for the NLC’s inherent issues”.

“In lieu of investigating why millions can't be accounted for, the NLC has as a substitute attempted to Solid doubt within the integrity of the journalists associated and it has questioned the SSA to research their resources.”

Proactive assignments made key
Protection flaws discovered within the NLC grant funding method in the course of the SSA’s investigation, show up to happen to be employed as an excuse through the NLC to remove all proactive-funded tasks from its central grants program.

“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all pro-actively funding jobs was heightened to ‘mystery’ and assignments were being removed from the grant funding technique and managed manually underneath the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Details Business, Government Manager Lawful in order to safeguard [the] information and facts,” Nene explained in her affidavit.

“There was many inside discussion, with a great deal of forwards and backwards, about what to do to plug the alleged leaks”, a resource, who was inside a senior position for the NLC at some time, told GroundUp. “Ultimately, the decision was taken to eliminate all the proactive tasks with the technique and Restrict access to A few individuals”.

Some in that handful of folks have been implicated in corruption.

Maselwa, who resigned within the NLC many years in the past, continues to be implicated in corruption involving lottery money. He gained R4.three-million from lottery cash allocated to develop a library and museum advanced in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Tunes and Arts Expo) which he made use of to develop a dwelling within an upmarket gated development in Pretoria. The property is among various paid out for with lottery money that were frozen once the Asset Forfeiture Unit attained a preservation purchase in December 2022.

The politically-connected Nevhutanda, who was appointed given that the NLC board chairperson by former President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near to higher-ups during the ANC Management, previous NLC previous Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-Main functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated from the corruption which overcome the NLC on their own observe.

Also implicated are former board members William Huma, who resigned soon after he was confronted with evidence of how he experienced profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who's got considering the fact that died.

Every time a new administration, including the entire board and government, took over with the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they found a “chaotic mess” during the documentation associated with proactive funding, much of which was paper-primarily based. Essential paperwork were being missing. Information held for safekeeping by document storage enterprise Metrofile were signed out and by no means returned.

The NLC was capable to Recuperate copies of some ตา ว จ หวย files from its Mimecast email archiving process as well as the laptops of their assistants and guidance staff.

News studies
In his 1 December 2018 letter, dealt with to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has noted with grave issue possible data protection breaches plus the unauthorised use and/or dissemination of private facts received because of carrying out Formal functions during the Commission by NLC employees. The functions are intended to undermine the integrity with the Commission even though disrupting the efficient capabilities [in the NLC] and causing insurmountable reputational damage to the Commission because the custodian of non-public information and facts entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”

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

Nene is presently going through a disciplinary inquiry after she was unsuccessful in lawful motion to put aside results of irregular expenditure on her view.

The purpose of her affidavit, Nene said, was “to history the gatherings which transpired associated with details security breaches for the National Lotteries Fee”.

She detailed a variety of information reviews which she claimed were being the outcomes of those “breaches” (see at the conclusion of this text).

Nene said that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that considered one of its employees, Sello Qhino, had “supplied her categorized NLC Data and persistently inspired her to offer the knowledge to GroundUp”.

Qhino, who blew the whistle on the series of dodgy lottery-funded tasks in Kuruman following attempts to lift The problem internally had been ignored, was subsequently fired.

Referring to an eighteen November 2018 report inside the Every day Dispatch concerning the misappropriation of Lottery resources, Nene mentioned which the NLC identified after which you can suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an worker from the NLC’s East London Workplace, who was the husband or wife and also the mother of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s 3 small children.

Rungqu and Makatse think Rungqu was punished mainly because Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and billed internally, While using the NLC spending R470,000 on lawyers to represent it, but was found not responsible and allowed to return to work.

“The common Think about these article content is the fact [they entail] classified information concerning proactive funding assignments,” Nene stated in her affidavit.

When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out of your household house to go ahead and take warmth off her and his young children. Going through homelessness, he moved into an Place of work within an vacant manufacturing facility belonging to a friend.

Both equally Makatse and Qhino are taking part in an NLC reparation procedure intended to recognise the harm a number of people endured with the palms on the NLC. Apologies and, sometimes, fiscal compensation are expected.

“Some individuals were really influenced quite negatively by this … This is actually distressing,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz advised the Every day Maverick very last year.

“I fulfilled a few these persons. It was just so coronary heart-wrenching that their total lives have already been turned upside down,” claimed Scholtz.

Among All those she met have been Qhino and Makatse.

Harmless System needed for whistleblowers
The SSA located the absence at enough time of a correct channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to show into the media.

“Failure to possess a committed anti-corruption channel will end in employees presenting these kinds of scenarios beyond the NLC,” the SSA mentioned in its findings.

“Given the magnitude of corruption in point out institutions, it remains very important that it makes sure that the NLC complies with all security prescripts and that its aim is on guaranteeing that unlawful and irregular conduct is sufficiently mitigated against and by guaranteeing an adequate channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward conduct without the need of getting intimidated.”

It encouraged which the NLC establish a “Protected channel” for employees to offer info on any “untoward action” that may not stop or discourage personnel from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers coverage, based upon the Shielded Disclosures Act twenty five of 2000, is often a prerequisite.”

Media reviews Nene outlined
A ten December 2017 report from the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Wellbeing and Physical fitness Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has labored carefully with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and owner of your Limpopo Mirror, to reveal NLC corruption. “The post experienced factors of data not obtainable in the public domain, therefore elevating worry on inner Details stability breaches. The allegations while in the media were independently investigated,” Nene claimed. “Nonetheless, employees chargeable for divulging classified data have still to be identified”;
A 28 January 2018 post printed with the Dally Dispatch “citing quite a few allegations within the Limpopo Mirror post revealed on 10 December 2017 and a new allegation regarding a former staff through the identify of Mzukisi Makatse. He was charged and summarily dismissed for that threat brought about on the organisation.”
A 16 November 2018 short article inside the Lowvelder with regard to the misappropriation of NLC money involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has claimed how, in spite of getting R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab has not been concluded. “The Lowvelder post contained categorized data concerning NLC plan, boosting further more fears of interior information and facts protection breaches,” Nene explained in her affidavit. “The prima facie evidence with regards to these allegations did not warrant an impartial Investigation, on the other hand [it] highlighted the heightened data security challenges inside the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose a couple of dodgy R27.five-million grant to Denzhe Major Treatment, a hijacked NPO. Nene mentioned GroundUp experienced verified in its Tale that it was based upon leaked NLC files. This was Regardless of the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Promotion of Access to Info) request for specifics with regard to the project, she said

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