Originally printed on GroundUp by Raymond Joseph
An expensive mountainside mansion with sweeping views of Simon’s Town and False Bay, owned by a belief managed by dodgy Pretoria lawyer Lesley Ramulifho, was described as “five-star” when it was put up for public sale a number of years in the past.
In rural Rustenberg, in North West, a powerful boutique lodge on a property owned by an organization belonging to former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) board member William Huma, lies in the picturesque foothills of the Kgaswane Nature Reserve Mountains.
And in Midrand, Gauteng, a luxurious visitor home with convention services set in a big backyard with “a country feel” is owned by an organization belonging to Kwaito star and music producer Arthur Mafokate.
The three properties, in completely different elements of South Africa, all have one factor in widespread: they had been all purchased utilizing money from Lottery grants allotted to non-profit corporations meant for good causes.
The properties had been frozen after the National Prosecuting Authority’s Assets Forfeiture Unit (AFU) obtained a preservation order in phrases of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, primarily based on proof gathered by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
The Act was promulgated in 1998 “to combat organised crime, money laundering and criminal gang activities.”
Also included in the preservation order are a luxurious dwelling in a gated property in Pretoria owned by a belief managed by former NLC authorized supervisor Tsietsi Maselwa, and a virtually 14-hectare plot in Pretoria owned by former NLC board chairperson, businessman and pastor, Alfred Nevhutanda, and his pastor spouse, Tshilidzi. Both of those properties had been additionally paid for with misappropriated Lottery funds.
The SIU has been investigating corruption involving the NLC since President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation in October 2020.
In phrases of the order, the homeowners are prohibited from “selling, disposing of, leasing, transferring, donating, or dealing in any manner whatsoever with respect to the immovable properties”.
Investigations revealed how money had been misappropriated from 5 non-profits that had obtained grant funding from the NLC of roughly R56.3-million meant for neighborhood improvement initiatives, the SIU mentioned in a statement.
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These are the South African Art and Development Association (SAADA), the Matieni Community Centre, Dinosys, Zibsicraft, and Taung Cultural Music and Arts Expo.
Democratic Alliance member exposing corruption in Parliament
The AFU was granted the preservation order after an ex parte software to the Gauteng High Court on 21 December final yr, which was solely made public on 13 January. In such an software, discover isn’t given to the opposite get together however there’s normally a return date when the affected get together can seem to argue towards the order, and likewise current proof
With the brand new yr barely begun, the newest preservation order is a transparent signal that the noose is constant to tighten on folks concerned in the looting of the Lottery.
This is the newest software in a collection of court-ordered preservation orders, like this one, that has seen the freezing of luxurious properties, properties, a farm and automobiles purchased with Lottery funds.
A farm owned by Ramulifho and a luxurious property owned by an organization of which former NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda is the only director was additionally frozen final yr. And, the pension of former NLC chief working officer Phillemon Letwaba has also been frozen.
Democratic Alliance member of parliament Mat Cuthbert, who has led the cost in Parliament in exposing Lottery corruption, congratulated the SIU however mentioned that “there needs to be a greater urgency” from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in charging and prosecuting members of the syndicate. “It is not enough for the funds to be recovered – these criminals must be placed behind bars,” he mentioned in a statement.
The money to pay for the newest properties to be frozen was diverted from non-profit organisations (NPOs) that had been funded for a wide range of initiatives.
South African Art and Development Association
SAADA, an NPO headed up by kwaito star and music producer Arthur Mafokate, was registered in 2011 however seems to have limped alongside financially till it obtained grants totalling R9.3-million from the NLC in 2014 and 2015.
The funding was for a national talent search competition and “to host workshops for upcoming artists to improve and uplift the standard of musicians in the music industry”, according to a report on the time.
The workshops coated subjects ranging “from refining talent, securing and managing recording deals, contracts, media interviews and marketing their music”.
The funding was paid in two tranches of R4.65-million every – the primary on 28 October 2014, the second on 13 November 2015.
Before the primary grant, SAADA had solely R16,995 in its checking account and R57,638 earlier than the second.
The SIU says that quickly after the second Lottery fee was obtained, 5 funds totalling simply over R4.5-million had been transferred to Roadshow Marketing, owned by Mafokate, which in flip paid R4.4-million into “a home loan account” in November 2015.
On 20 January 2016, Mafokate then made a proposal to buy the Villa Rosa Guest House in Midrand by way of 999 Music, of which he’s the only director. The subsequent day the SIU says that R4.3-million was then transferred from the house mortgage to 999 Music, which in flip transferred R675,000 and R361,000 to attorneys dealing with the acquisition of the visitor home by 999 Music.
The whistle was blown on the abuse of Lottery funding in 2015 by Brian Mokoena, the previous secretary common of SAADA and chief working officer of two of Mafokate’s corporations – Roadshow Marketing and 999 music.
Mokoena claimed that Lottery money was used to assist purchase the visitor home, in an affidavit he deposed on the Midrand police station on 15 May 2015.
In his affidavit, Mokoena alleged that moreover Lottery money being used for the visitor home … automobiles paid for with the grant had been used to ferry Mafokate’s artists, together with his son, DJ AJ, and kwaito star Chomee, a fellow board member.
“Cameras, printers, laptops and furniture bought by SAADA ended up at his guesthouse. As the secretary-general, together with the board, we were sidelined from the activities of the NPO. The chairperson [Mafokate] operated and used the NPO at his own will. Thus the NPO ran as the personal fiefdom of Arthur Mafokate,” Mokoena mentioned in his affidavit.
Mafokate confronted about Lottery funds
SAADA’s board members on the time included chairperson Mafokate, finance director Thulisile Madihlaba – Chomee, who was Mafokate’s girlfriend, Mokoena, who was secretary-general, and Mafokate’s sister, Rita Sidimba, the deputy secretary common.
“I am about to travel the whole country in discovering 1000 potential young people (100 per province and 100 that will be randomly picked) and workshop them about how to survive the music industry,” Mafokate posted on Instagram on the time.
Mokoena informed GroundUp that he had confronted Mafokate about the usage of Lottery funds for his private use. “He was very arrogant and told me not to tell him what to do.” After the 2 fell out, Mokoena says he resigned and left “without a cent”.
Mokoena mentioned he met a number of occasions with former NLC Commissioner Thabang Mampane, Letwaba, Nevhutanda, and Maselwa, and knowledgeable them that Lottery funds had been being abused by Mafokate. “But nothing came of it. Mampane was very patronising to me. She told me to calm down and offered me a can of Sprite because she said that I needed to chill and bring up my sugar levels.”
Mokoena says he additionally met with former NLC board chairperson Nevhutanda and Mafokate concerning the matter. “Nevhutanda said he wanted to ‘sort it out’ but I was not interested. I did not want to be part of any deals,” he mentioned.
Mafokate’s firm, Roadshow Marketing, has additionally been the beneficiary of a number of contracts price greater than R3.6-million between 2019 and 2021 to provide items and companies to the NLC. This included media shopping for, advertising and marketing and advertising and marketing supplies, and video manufacturing. The firm was additionally paid R84,599 for “branded unisex rubber bracelets” and R204,096 to provide diaries for 2020/21.
Dinosys
Dinosys was one in all two non-profit corporations managed by lawyer Lesley Ramulifho that every obtained R10-million for a mission to provide bogs at ten rural faculties in Limpopo and 15 in the Eastern Cape.
But a forensic investigation by audit agency SkX revealed particulars of how millions of rands meant to construct the bogs had been hijacked by Lottopreneurs. SkX discovered that bogs had been constructed at solely seven Limpopo faculties and solely 4 Eastern Cape faculties and that the workmanship and supplies used had been of poor high quality.
Three weeks after the NLC signed the funding settlement with Dinosys, it paid R7-million on 5 December 2018 into the corporate’s account, the SIU says. Prior to this fee, there was simply R496 in the account.
Two weeks later Dinosys transferred R6 million of the Lottery funds into one other checking account, after which about six weeks later, on 30 January 2019, the corporate moved R3-million to one other of its financial institution accounts.
On the identical day, the R3-million was paid into the belief account of attorneys dealing with the acquisition of a home by the Ramulifho Family Trust, of which Ramulifho is each a trustee and a beneficiary.
The luxurious house is in Froggy Pond, a complicated space in Simon’s Town. When it was put up for public sale in 2017 an advert described it as “five-star” and “spectacular”.
The mountain-side Simon’s Town home has 5 bedrooms – all with en suite bogs, a visitor rest room, an open-plan lounge and eating room, with spectacular views of the city and the ocean, in accordance to the public sale advert.
“The property has an infinity swimming pool with an ocean view, braai area, and an astroturf lawn on the balcony,” the advert continues gushingly.
GroundUp beforehand revealed how Ramulifho had used Lottery money to purchase a luxurious dwelling in 2017 in the upmarket Mooikloof Country Estate in Pretoria.
Zibsicraft
Zibsicraft, a non-profit shelf firm, utilized for R4.5-million on 25 March 2019, and two days later it signed a grant settlement with the NLC for R4-million, according to the SIU.
The grant was paid into Zibsicraft’s checking account on 28 March, which means that it took simply 4 days from software to the grant being paid out.
Its financial institution steadiness of R500 elevated by R4-million, thanks to the NLC grant.
Zibsicraft was purchased as a dormant shelf firm on 14 March 2019, when the unique administrators resigned and new administrators had been appointed.
The grant was supposedly for analysis into the Khoisan language with Bonakele Jacobs, a director on the Northern Cape Department of Arts and Culture, listed in the applying as a key stakeholder who was consulted on the grant.
But Jacobs informed GroundUp that his title was being used to commit fraud on the NLC and he had been contacted a number of occasions by investigators wanting into the misappropriation of Lottery funds.
As occurred with a number of different multimillion-rand, proactively-funded Lottery grants, Zibsicraft submitted fraudulent monetary statements with its software, in this case for the interval 28 February 2018 to 28 February 2019.
But it might have been unattainable for the corporate to produce the requisite two years of economic statements, because it was bought off-the-shelf on 14 March 2019, and was dormant till then.
A couple of weeks earlier, on 10 February, the Higher Grace Church International, which is headed up by Nevutanda, NLC chairperson on the time, made a R3.3-million provide to purchase a 14-hectare plot of land in Pretoria, in accordance to the SIU.
Every week after Zibsicraft was paid the grant by the NLC on 28 March, it paid R3-million to MDU Consulting Engineers, (which was additionally used as a conduit to pay millions in direction of a luxurious mansion for Nevhutanda and his spouse). The following day, 5 April, MDU paid R2.2-million to “conveyancers” dealing with the sale of the plot, with the provide of buy stating that the purchaser was the Higher Grace Church represented by Nevhutanda.
Then on the identical day, 9 May, one other provide to buy was signed, this time with Nevhutanda and his spouse, Tshilidzi, who can also be a pastor, alone because the patrons.
Taung Cultural Music and Arts Expo
Taung obtained R18.2-million to build the Credo Mutwa library and museum in Kuruman in 2017. Companies linked to then NLC COO Letwaba had been employed as service suppliers to construct the ability. Letwaba resigned last year simply weeks earlier than he was due to seem earlier than a disciplinary listening to to reply fees of abusing his place to enrich himself and his household.
The non-profit utilized for funding for the mission on 8 September 2017, however didn’t state on its software how a lot it wanted, according to the SIU. Just ten days later, a grant of R12-million was authorised by the NLC, and the settlement was signed off by NLC authorized supervisor Tsietsi Maselwa.
On 12 October, the NLC paid R10-million into Taung’s checking account, which solely had R108 in it earlier than the grant was obtained.
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Four days later, R1.5-million was paid by Taung to a development firm that was constructing a home for Maselwa in a luxurious Pretoria property.
Then, between 13 May and 4 August 2017, a number of funds totalling simply over R1-million had been paid to the development firm, adopted by an additional R1.5-million fee on 16 October.
Maselwa then instructed the development firm to pay R300,000 of this to the Marang Family Trust. The belief was solely registered on 28 July 2017, with Maselwa as its sole trustee.
When GroundUp visited the shoddily-built facility late final yr it was locked and never in use. Paint is peeling off the within partitions, water is leaking by way of ceilings and the doorways are poorly fitted. There are additionally only a few books on the library’s cabinets and hardly any displays in the “museum”.
About 65 million funds looted
Matieni Community Centre obtained R23.7-million for an old age dwelling in Marapyane, Mpumalanga, then nonetheless NLC COO Letwaba’s dwelling village. But a few of the money meant for the ability was used for the development of Letwaba’s home, which is a kilometre away.
On 11 September 2017, Matieni, an NPO targeted on “home-based care” and run by girls in the agricultural Limpopo village of Itsani, utilized for a grant of R20.1-million. Just two days later, the NLC’s Charities Distributing Agency allotted R23-million, which was greater than Itsani had utilized for, according to the SIU. Before Matieni obtained the grant it had solely R414 in its checking account.
On 23 October, Matieni transferred R5-million to a agency of attorneys in Rustenberg, after a non-public firm, BDH Group (Pty) Ltd, made a proposal of R6.8-million to buy property the place the now-frozen Bophirima Boutique Hotel is located. The registered administrators of the lodge are listed as Lorato Moyo and Huma’s niece, Khumo Huma.
Huma was a board member of the NLC on the time of the transaction. BDH Group, of which he’s the only director, is in the “deregistration process”, in accordance to firm information.
The previous age dwelling continues to be unfinished and the brand new NLC board has allotted it a further R11-million, as a part of a R65-million initiative to full Lottery-funded infrastructure initiatives the place tens of millions of rands had been looted.
