Lottery bosses turned to Condition Safety Agency to investigate leaks

Lottery bosses turned to Condition Safety Agency to investigate leaks

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Former Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda asked the State Safety Agency (SSA) in December 2018 to research the leaking of documents that exposed lottery corruption.
The NLC’s corporation secretary at enough time shown media reviews she claimed ended up dependant on “stolen” info within an affidavit for your SSA.
The SSA did examine. It found the information wasn't a matter of state security and that the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “enough motive” for the media to show it.
A brand new board and administration has given that taken in excess of the NLC and Up to now have taken steps to end corruption at the institution.
A Point out Protection Company (SSA) investigation discovered the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “supplied enough motive” for exposure with the media.

The probe into supposed “facts safety breaches and sabotage of NLC operations” was undertaken immediately after then-NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda wrote towards the SSA in December 2018 requesting it to investigate.

Here's

Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by at this time suspended NLC firm secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the request, and
the safety agency’s “private” findings and proposals.
Nevhutanda asked the SSA to analyze the part of NLC staff from the alleged leaking of information, and Nene, in her affidavit determined specific media and studies that she claimed associated these leaks.

Within the letter outlining its results, the SSA instructed the NLC that while safeguarding condition information and facts was “a lawful crucial geared toward safeguarding the sovereignty and integrity with the condition” this only applied to appropriately classified information.

Even though it did not say so immediately, the SSA findings implied which the allegedly leaked data did not tumble into this class.

Substantially, the SSA produced it apparent that the need to protect condition info “would not avoid any individual from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminal activity”.

The SSA investigation uncovered that the NLC data linked to the alleged breach was “delicate and privileged in nature, but not categorized with regard to the prescripts of your Minimum Info Security Specifications (Overlook)”.

“The leakage in the appropriate sensitive Formal NLC information and facts into the media won't pose a risk to national protection,” the SSA explained, adding the effect of the breaches was reputational.

The SSA report observed “no evidence of a factual and incriminating mother nature towards any in the suspected NLC employees that would be discovered from the information and knowledge interrogated”.

Additionally, it said that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities in the NLC and at its beneficiaries does deliver enough motive to have this sort of exposed inside the media”.

Conspiracy claims
In 2020, Nevhutanda informed MPs for the duration of a session of Parliament’s trade, marketplace and Level of competition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” wherein information and facts “stolen” with the NLC was sent to the US, where by he claimed it had been becoming marketed to fund a smear campaign from the NLC.

He was repeating comparable statements he experienced Formerly built in Parliament, which incorporated advertisement hominem assaults on GroundUp which reporter but was cautious not to name both.

“I arrived here On this August household past year and noted to honourable associates that details about our beneficiaries has actually been stolen and place in one state in America,” he told MPs.

“We called on the Point out Safety Agency to return look into the make any difference mainly because we're obtaining reports that our facts is building income for media platforms and journalists,” he mentioned. “There have been discuss, not surprisingly from a single supply, one particular media, that spoke Considerably about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda explained (referring to GroundUp), but failed to notify MPs the SSA investigation had been accomplished Virtually a calendar year earlier.

Proactive funding was at the center on the looting from the lottery. It side-stepped the traditional grant process. The NLC could alone recognize a job to fund and appoint a non-profit organisation to oversee it.

Soon after Nevhutanda very first told Parliament in 2018 that he experienced asked the SSA to research the meant breach, the South African Nationwide Editors Discussion board issued a statement expressing that his remarks mirrored “a very harmful Mind-set exactly where the media is currently being blamed with the NLC’s inherent difficulties”.

“Rather than investigating why hundreds of thousands can't be accounted for, the NLC has alternatively attempted to Solid doubt about the integrity on the journalists concerned and has questioned the SSA to analyze their sources.”

Proactive tasks produced magic formula
Security flaws discovered while in the NLC grant funding program through the SSA’s investigation, surface to are actually applied as an excuse by the NLC to get rid of all proactive-funded jobs from its central grants technique.

“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all Professional-actively funding projects was heightened to ‘mystery’ and jobs had been removed from the grant funding technique and preserved manually underneath the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Information Place of work, Government Manager Legal to be able to safeguard [the] details,” Nene mentioned in her affidavit.

“There was plenty of inner dialogue, with many backwards and forwards, about what to do to plug the alleged leaks”, a resource, who was in the senior placement in the NLC at some time, advised GroundUp. “In the end, the choice was taken to eliminate every one of the proactive projects with the method and limit usage of A few folks”.

Some in that handful of folks were implicated in corruption.

Maselwa, who resigned through the NLC quite a few years ago, is implicated in corruption involving lottery cash. He gained R4.3-million from lottery cash allocated to create a library and museum intricate in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Audio and Arts Expo) which he utilised to create a residence in an upmarket gated enhancement in Pretoria. The residence is one of several compensated for with lottery funds which were frozen after the Asset Forfeiture Device obtained a preservation buy in December 2022.

The politically-connected Nevhutanda, who was appointed given that the NLC board chairperson by previous President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near to substantial-ups inside the ANC leadership, previous NLC former Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-Main working officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated inside the corruption which confused the NLC on their watch.

Also implicated are previous board members William Huma, who resigned just after he was confronted with evidence of how he experienced profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who has due to the fact died.

Whenever a new administration, such as the full board and executive, took more than with the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they discovered a “chaotic mess” inside the documentation regarding proactive funding, A great deal of which was paper-based. Crucial paperwork have been missing. Information held for safekeeping by document storage company Metrofile were signed out and hardly ever returned.

The NLC was able to Get better copies of some ผล หวย หุ้น paperwork from its Mimecast electronic mail archiving method plus the laptops in their assistants and aid employees.

News reviews
In his 1 December 2018 letter, addressed to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has noted with grave concern possible information stability breaches as well as unauthorised use and/or dissemination of private details obtained on account of doing official capabilities inside the Fee by NLC personnel. The actions are meant to undermine the integrity from the Fee while disrupting the powerful capabilities [in the NLC] and producing insurmountable reputational harm on the Fee as the custodian of personal details entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”

His ask for for that SSA to analyze was supported within an affidavit by suspended NLC enterprise secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.

Nene is currently dealing with a disciplinary inquiry right after she was unsuccessful in legal motion to put aside results of irregular expenditure on her observe.

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

She outlined many news experiences which she claimed ended up the outcomes of such “breaches” (see at the conclusion of this post).

Nene claimed that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that one of its workers, Sello Qhino, experienced “furnished her categorized NLC Information and facts and persistently inspired her to deliver the information to GroundUp”.

Qhino, who blew the whistle on a series of dodgy lottery-funded initiatives in Kuruman soon after makes an attempt to boost The problem internally were ignored, was subsequently fired.

Referring to an 18 November 2018 short article while in the Day-to-day Dispatch in regards to the misappropriation of Lottery funds, Nene mentioned the NLC determined after which you can suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an employee while in the NLC’s East London office, who was the companion along with the mother of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s three kids.

Rungqu and Makatse believe that Rungqu was punished for the reason that Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and charged internally, While using the NLC expending R470,000 on legal professionals to characterize it, but was identified not responsible and allowed to return to work.

“The common Consider these posts is usually that [they include] labeled information referring to proactive funding initiatives,” Nene said in her affidavit.

When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out in the relatives dwelling to go ahead and take warmth off her and his small children. Experiencing homelessness, he moved into an office within an vacant manufacturing unit belonging to a friend.

The two Makatse and Qhino are participating in an NLC reparation process intended to recognise the damage some people endured with the hands of your NLC. Apologies and, sometimes, economic payment are expected.

“Some persons had been definitely affected quite negatively by this … This is really unpleasant,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz instructed the Daily Maverick final yr.

“I fulfilled a handful of these individuals. It absolutely was just so coronary heart-wrenching that their full life are actually turned the other way up,” claimed Scholtz.

Between All those she fulfilled had been Qhino and Makatse.

Protected platform desired for whistleblowers
The SSA observed the absence at time of an appropriate channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to turn to the media.

“Failure to possess a focused anti-corruption channel will cause employees presenting these circumstances beyond the NLC,” the SSA reported in its findings.

“Supplied the magnitude of corruption in point out institutions, it remains vital that it makes sure that the NLC complies with all protection prescripts Which its aim is on ensuring that unlawful and irregular perform is sufficiently mitigated from and by guaranteeing an enough channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward carry out with no currently being intimidated.”

It advisable that the NLC build a “Harmless channel” for employees to provide info on any “untoward activity” that may not protect against or discourage staff from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers plan, determined by the Protected Disclosures Act 25 of 2000, is usually a necessity.”

Media stories Nene outlined
A 10 December 2017 report during the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Well being and Health Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has labored carefully with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and proprietor with the Limpopo Mirror, to show NLC corruption. “The posting experienced features of data not out there in the general public domain, thereby boosting worry on inner Details safety breaches. The allegations in the media were being independently investigated,” Nene claimed. “Even so, workers responsible for divulging labeled info have nonetheless for being discovered”;
A 28 January 2018 post released by the Dally Dispatch “citing several allegations with the Limpopo Mirror article printed on 10 December 2017 as well as a new allegation regarding a previous personnel because of the title of Mzukisi Makatse. He was charged and summarily dismissed for your threat brought on towards 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 noted how, Despite getting R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab has never been concluded. “The Lowvelder post contained categorised details concerning NLC policy, increasing further worries of interior info safety breaches,” Nene explained in her affidavit. “The prima facie proof with regards to these allegations didn't warrant an unbiased Investigation, however [it] highlighted the heightened info security dangers within the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose about a dodgy R27.five-million grant to Denzhe Most important Treatment, a hijacked NPO. Nene explained GroundUp had verified in its story that it was based on leaked NLC files. This was despite the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Promotion of Use of Details) ask for for information in regards to the venture, she reported