- Former
National Lotteries Commission acting chief operating officer Sanele
Dlamini has been summarily dismissed while the Special Investigating Unit
and the Hawks investigate dodgy multimillion-rand lottery grants. - At
least another eight NLC employees have had disciplinary charges brought
against them. - They
continue to receive millions of rands in salaries, with suspended company
secretary Nompumelo Nene paid almost R5 million since her suspension. - For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
A former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) chief operating
officer, who faced internal charges involving two dodgy multimillion-rand
lottery grants, has been summarily dismissed.
Sanele Dlamini, a former KwaZulu-Natal provincial manager,
was appointed as NLC acting chief operating officer after the sudden resignation of
Phillemon Letwaba, who was facing disciplinary charges at the time. Among the
charges Letwaba faced was signing off on the two projects which are being
investigated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Hawks.
GroundUp previously reported on one of these projects, a
sports centre in Soweto that was never
built despite the NLC forking out millions of rands.
Another disciplinary hearing has recommended that Sibonelo
Vilakazi, a client liaison officer at the NLC KwaZulu-Natal office, be
dismissed.
Vilikazi’s disciplinary inquiry heard how a company in which
his wife was the sole director benefited
from lottery grants to football clubs and crèches.
Both Dlamini and Vilakazi have appealed, which has
effectively suspended their dismissals. They will continue to be paid their
full salaries until their appeals are resolved.
Seven other employees also face charges
Six other NLC employees are also facing disciplinary
inquiries and have been placed on cautionary suspension, according to a
written response by
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau to questions submitted by DA
MP Toby Chance.
A seventh person has also been charged with disciplinary
offences but is not on suspension.
So far, the six have been paid almost R8.4-million in total
in salaries since their suspension. They were suspended at various times
between November 2022 and July 2024.
“The NLC has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to fraud
and corruption and officials are placed on precautionary suspension where
implicated in SIU or other forensic audit reports,” Tau said.
Among those who have been suspended is NLC company secretary
Nompumelo Nene, who has been paid almost R5-million since her suspension on 18
November 2022. She was ordered to pay punitive costs by the Johannesburg High
Court earlier this year after she failed in
an attempt to stop her disciplinary hearing from going ahead.
Tau’s response did not identify the suspended
officials by name and only gave their positions.
Besides Nene, the suspended officials include Gugulethu
Yako, the NLC’s legal manager, who has been paid R1.6 million since her
suspension in October 2023; Free State provincial manager Thokozile Mandyu, who
has been paid almost R650 000 since her suspension early in July 2024; and Free
State deputy provincial manager Mavis Tabane, who has been paid over R500 000
since her suspension, also in July 2024.
“Of the historic 34 employees cited for consequence
management in forensic reports predating the new Board and Commissioner, 16
officials resigned and one official was medically boarded,” Tau said in
response to Chance’s questions. “This number also included SIU referrals.”
“In instances where the officials are part of the Presidential
Proclamation and SIU investigations, officials will be prosecuted. In
other cases of fraud and corruption, criminal cases will be opened and where
applicable, funds recovered.”
“It is important to note that all SIU criminal
referrals are submitted to the Regional Head of the Special Commercial Crimes
Unit, Advocate Marshall Mokgatlhe,” Tau said.
Dodgy contracts
Dlamini, who acted briefly as the NLC’s chief operating officer, was
summarily dismissed on 27 September but has appealed. He was found guilty of
several charges connected with two lottery-funded projects.
One involved the Phumelela Educational Training Projects,
which received almost
R9.6 million between 2014 and 2018. It is not clear which years’ grants were
investigated by the SIU.
Dlamini was also found guilty in connection with
non-compliant grants to Motheo
Sports and Education Trust, and of failing to provide information requested
by the Auditor-General.
Dlamini was charged with signing off on a Motheo project
report claiming “everything was in order” when, in fact, nothing
had happened on the site.
Motheo allocated a R9-million grant for the project. But
only R6-million of this was paid; R3 million was withheld when a new NLC
administration was appointed and a site inspection by NLC officials found an
empty property being used by locals as a rubbish dump. Steps are underway to
recover the money paid to Motheo.
The NLC has opened two cases against Motheo. Both are being
investigated by the Commercial Crimes Unit.
Responding to questions from GroundUp, Dlamini said, “The
NLC’s Standard Operating Procedure clearly states that no sanction can be
implemented before the appeal process is finalised. I am, therefore, still an
employee of NLC and accordingly receive all my employment benefits from the
organisation.”
Dlamini declined to comment on questions about Motheo and
Phumelela.
“The other issues you have raised shall be addressed
during the appeal process,” he said.
Charges against Vilakazi
Vilakazi was found guilty on several charges, including that
his wife, Nosipho Zanele Zuma, benefited from payments to her company by
non-profits that had received lottery grants. He was also found guilty of a
conflict of interest for not disclosing these payments.
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi told
Parliament in February last year how the alleged misappropriation of
lottery funds was
orchestrated.
GroundUp reported how
R32-million was paid by hundreds of grassroots organisations into the bank
account of his wife’s business, 05 ZZET Enterprise (Pty) Ltd.
The SIU was granted
an application in the Special Tribunal in September last year to
freeze four of her companies and her personal bank accounts.
The SIU said there was about R2.4 million in the frozen
accounts. It is unclear what has happened to the other R30-million paid to her
company.
“The money was paid into the accounts by non-profit
organisations that received funding from the NLC to improve the conditions of
ordinary South Africans but [instead] made its way into bank accounts for
self-enrichment,” the SIU said at the time.
The SIU said its investigations had revealed that Vilakazi,
who worked as an NLC client liaison officer in Durban, approached daycare
centres and football clubs in KZN to ask them to apply for grant funding.
Immediately after receiving funding, these clubs and centres
would then transfer large sums of money into ZZET’s bank account, as well as
other bank accounts linked to Zuma, the SIU said.
GroundUp was unable to contact Vilakazi.
