- A 2020 report by auditors SekelaXabiso (SkX) has revealed how hundreds of thousands of rands supposed for school bogs had been hijacked.
- The report, commissioned by the National Lotteries Commission, exhibits that two non-profit firms managed by lawyer Lesley Ramulifho every obtained R10 million in grants to construct new bogs.
- One firm was to assemble ten new toilet blocks in Limpopo and the opposite was to assemble new bogs at 15 colleges within the Eastern Cape.
- SkX’s report discovered that bogs had been constructed at solely seven Limpopo colleges and solely 4 Eastern Cape colleges, and that the workmanship and supplies used had been of poor high quality.
A leaked forensic report has revealed particulars of the best way hundreds of thousands of rands supposed to construct bogs at rural Eastern Cape and Limpopo colleges had been hijacked by Lottopreneurs.
GroundUp and the Limpopo Mirror first exposed the dodgy dealings within the R30 million toilet project in 2019. This spurred the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) to nominate audit agency SekelaXabiso (SkX) to analyze.
The report by SkX is one among several commissioned by the NLC in 2020 following allegations of malfeasance. SkX handed the report back to the NLC in 2020, however the brand new NLC board, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) solely obtained the report this 12 months. The NLC lied to Parliament in 2021 about supposed delays in ending the report.
The report confirms that two non-profit firms managed by lawyer Lesley Ramulifho – Zibsifusion and Dinosys – every obtained R10 million in grants to construct new bogs. Ramulifho has been concerned in a number of dodgy lottery offers and has obtained greater than R60 million in lottery grants.
One firm, Zibsifusion, was to assemble ten new toilet blocks in Limpopo and the opposite, Dinosys, was to assemble new bogs at 15 colleges within the Eastern Cape. SkX’s report discovered that bogs had been constructed at solely seven Limpopo colleges and solely 4 Eastern Cape colleges, and that the workmanship and supplies used had been of poor high quality.
Two different firms, T2 Tech and SRSQS, obtained virtually R10 million to conduct high quality assurance on behalf of the NLC. This brings the overall expenditure on the project to shut to R30 million. SkX’s amount surveyor mentioned the project ought to have value about R9 milllion, not R20 million, and that the charges charged by T2 Tech and SRSQS had been “overly inflated”.
During web site visits each in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, SkX discovered discrepancies between progress stories submitted to the NLC and the truth on the bottom. Where new sanitation amenities had been constructed, they had been of inconsistent high quality. Some colleges recognized as needing sanitary amenities had been discovered to have already got them.
The scope of the Eastern Cape project was lowered from the development of 15 new bogs to the development of 4 new bogs and the renovation of 16 blocks of bogs. This deviation was by no means requested or accepted by the Department of Education, SkX discovered.
SkX additionally visited a number of Eastern Cape colleges that already had bogs and located that the faculties had been approached by a firm known as East London Sanitation, who mentioned they had been instructed to conduct upkeep companies on their EnviroLoo sanitation amenities. The colleges had been advised to pay 50% of the service charges.
Upon additional investigation, SkX discovered that East London Sanitation had an settlement with Lesley Ramulifho, on behalf of Dinosys, to supply the companies. Half of the associated fee can be paid by the faculties and the remaining by Dinosys. East London Sanitation invoiced Dinosys for the charges, however was by no means paid. The colleges SkX visited had been unaware of the hyperlink between East London Sanitation and the NLC project.
According to the report, the financial institution statements for Zibsifusion confirmed that R2 million was paid to Ramulifho and that R110,000 was despatched to Rebotile Malomane. Malomane is former NLC Commissioner Phillemon Letwaba’s second spouse and is the mom of three of his kids. Her firm obtained millions in Lottery cash.
SkX discovered a number of irregularities within the grant software processes of Zibsifusion and Dinosys. Marubini Ramatsekisa, a threat supervisor at NLC on the time, was discovered by SkX to have pushed via paperwork with incorrect data, to have uncared for to hold out due diligence, and to have compiled some paperwork himself that had been mentioned to have been compiled by different officers within the NLC.
Ramatsekisa later grew to become Head of Risk, one of the necessary and senior roles on the NLC. He was suspended earlier this 12 months.
SkX discovered that the proposal for the project, asking for R10 million for every province, contained no value breakdown. In some situations, funds had been processed with out supporting paperwork having been offered, the report says.
No proof was offered of any standards used to pick out Zibsifusion and Dinosys. Several paperwork within the software course of are doubtlessly fraudulent, the report says.
The report additionally mentions that Dinosys recognized “Mr T Monare” because the consultant for the Eastern Cape Education Department. Monare does work for the division, in accordance with spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima, as a director in one of many infrastructure sections. But when SkX tried to name Monare on the cellphone quantity provided, the decision was answered by Ofentse Modibane, a project supervisor for Zibsifusion and Dinosys.
Progress stories submitted by SRSQS and T2 Tech had been deceptive, SkX discovered. In one case, footage purportedly displaying progress at a number of websites had been in actual fact of the identical construction on the identical school.
SRSQS didn’t perform any geotechnical companies and solely performed a geotechnical desktop research. This was “improper as they were appointed to provide geotechnical services on behalf of the NLC” the report discovered. There had been additionally adjustments within the scope of the project within the Eastern Cape however there was no proof that the Eastern Cape Department of Education had requested or accepted the adjustments.
SRSQS submitted invoices to the NLC for high quality assurance for the development of amenities at 20 public colleges. They had been paid the entire quantity, regardless of solely 4 colleges having obtained sanitation amenities.
Recommendations
SkX beneficial:
- that every one different “pro-active” grant funded initiatives be probed. “Pro-active” funding, the place the NLC might establish initiatives thought-about worthy of funding, was used to defraud the NLC of hundreds of thousands. The new board positioned a moratorium on pro-active grant funding this 12 months;
- that disciplinary prices be instituted towards Ramatsekisa for misrepresentation and submitting untruthful data;
- that Letwaba ought to face disciplinary prices for dereliction of obligation;
- that funds needs to be recovered from SRSQS, T2 Tech, Dinosys and Zibsifusion;
- and that felony prices needs to be laid towards Lesley Ramulifho, Zibsifusion and Dinosys.