A choice within the Exclusive Investigation Unit’s (SIU) application to amend the 2020 Presidential Proclamation is expected by the top of February.
The initial proclamation only allowed the SIU to analyze grants made by the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) between one January 2014 and seven November 2020.
The SIU is looking for a mandate to research lottery-funded jobs that drop exterior that interval.
What's more, it desires to research fraud and corruption related to the NLC’s procurement of providers, which wasn't coated lottovip below the initial 2020 proclamation.
The NLC has experienced new administration and board due to the fact 2022 and has long been assisting the SIU with its investigations.
A call on the application because of the Unique Investigating Unit (SIU) to the amendment of the 2020 Presidential Proclamation mandating it to analyze corruption involving the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) and its staff members, is predicted by the end from the thirty day period.

This was verified via the Office of Justice’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi. “The motivation was submitted to your Section late previous yr and is being organized for submission on the Minister to advise the authorisation of your amendment to the proclamation. A choice may be predicted by the top of February 2025,” Masibi advised GroundUp.

The first proclamation only allowed the SIU to research grants created by the NLC concerning 1 January 2014 and 7 November 2020. This still left the SIU hamstrung when investigating fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s procurement of services and appointment of services providers, which ran to numerous an incredible number of rand.

In its drive to amend the proclamation, the SIU is trying to get a mandate permitting it to investigate lottery-funded projects that tumble outside the house the time period lined by the first proclamation, since the NLC’s corruption continued once the proclamation was gazetted.

Although the SIU couldn’t straight look into procurement, since the original proclamation did not involve it, it seconded two of its officials for the NLC to help it in its investigations into dodgy procurement.

GroundUp has also acquired which the SIU as well as the NLC recently signed a brand new letter of engagement extending the relationship involving the two entities by a year. Their deal expired at the end of December 2024.

The NLC’s probe, which includes the guidance with the SIU’s seconded officials and several damning investigations by unbiased audit corporations, suggests the SIU could have a jump start inside of a probe into procurement If your proclamation is extended.

The NLC and the SIU have also been inundated with suggestion-offs. Most are from whistleblowers about dodgy grant and provide chain administration fraud and corruption, some of which transpired following November 2020.

The 2020 proclamation incorporates an exception for your SIU to research alleged corruption that took place ahead of or following the date of its publication …“but is pertinent to, related with, incidental or ancillary to your matters … or require a similar people, entities or contracts”.

The SIU’s determination also seeks a mandate to investigate fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s source chain management as well as the procurement of solutions.

The SIU Earlier informed GroundUp it absolutely was investigating above seven-hundred dodgy undertaking grants, with extra tip-offs coming in. Various NLC employees are experiencing disciplinary rates about their alleged involvement in dodgy procurement. Other folks resigned when they have been charged. The SIU has also documented lots of Those people associated into the law enforcement.

In 2022 the SIU explained to Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competitiveness portfolio committee that it had been investigating dodgy lottery grants valued at above R1.4-billion. Previous yr SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi advised the committee that the value of dodgy grants less than investigation experienced grown to over R2-billion.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago declined to touch upon the appliance to increase the proclamation.

Dodgy procurement
In 2023, the Auditor-Basic instructed the NLC’s administration to address “vital inner Manage deficiencies determined to improve procurement and agreement management”. This came once the Auditor-Common’s NLC audit in 2021 uncovered much more than R23-million in irregular expenditure and R36-million in accounting mistakes designed in previous years. Items worsened the following yr, While using the Auditor-Typical’s 2022 administration report over the NLC revealing nearly R57-million in irregular expenditure because of the contravention of source chain management laws.

Between the issues flagged in damning experiences from the Auditor-General, and by auditors appointed via the NLC, have been irregular expenditure on info technology and sky-superior paying out on legal professionals. The NLC struggled to answer a prepared parliamentary dilemma about its expenditure on legal costs, as critical files with particulars of multimillion-rand litigation expenditure have vanished.

Yet another spot of problem may be the tens of an incredible number of rand in shelling out on media and communications, by using a disproportionate volume paid into the Sunday Earth newspaper.

A lot of rand in dodgy payments ended up also created to NLC services suppliers, like a R498,000 payment to services service provider Neo Consulting to investigate a computer hack that hardly ever occurred.

ProEthics, which recommended the NLC on ethics in the event the organisation was overwhelmed by rampant corruption, was also used to launder payments to provider suppliers. The NLC paid out ProEthics around R28.four-million. The organization, in turn, mentioned it paid other services providers on the NLC’s Directions — such as a R1.seven-million payment for the flash mob that never ever occurred.

The conclusions of independent investigations commissioned via the NLC’s new board and government are already essential in formulating disciplinary rates in opposition to implicated staff, which include NLC business secretary Nompumelelo Nene.

Nene is charged with alleged irregularities during the appointments of and payments to a number of support suppliers. She is usually accused of supplying “Fake or incomplete data in submissions justifying deviations from procurement processes”.