- The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has allotted practically R65 million to end lottery-funded projects the place tens of thousands and thousands of rands had been looted.
- New funds are to be paid immediately to engineers commissioned by the NLC as a substitute of dodgy non-profit firms.
- Over R240 million in grants has now been allotted to these projects, which embrace 4 old-age houses, a drug rehab and a supposed “boxing arena”.
- The projects are all at the moment beneath investigation by the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks.
- The dodgy firms and their administrators will be blacklisted by the NLC.
Abandoned infrastructure projects funded by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), together with 4 old-age houses and a drug rehabilitation centre, will lastly be accomplished, years after tens of thousands and thousands of rands meant for his or her development had been looted.
The NLC has allotted practically R65 million to end a number of multi-million-rand infrastructure projects that had been left incomplete after lottery grants went lacking.
These funds will be paid immediately to the engineering companies commissioned by the NLC as a substitute of the non-profit firms (NPCs) that had been initially supposed to fund the projects.
Details of extra funding for the unfinished projects, that are all at the moment being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Hawks, are included within the NLC’s latest annual report, which was offered to parliament by its new board final week.
Over R240 million, together with the newest grants, has now been allotted for these projects in want of completion.
Most of those unfinished projects initially obtained “proactive” funding, which was at the heart of the looting of the lottery and has now been suspended. Proactive funding allowed the NLC to establish projects to fund with out first receiving an utility, and to establish and appoint an NPC to run the undertaking. This resulted in dodgy, usually hijacked, NPCs with no expertise of development being put answerable for multi million rand projects which had been by no means accomplished.
NLC spokesperson Ndivhuho Mafela advised GroundUp that “the NLC took a decision to oversee the completion of these projects directly through its own panel of engineers”.
“The Special Investigating Unit was engaged on completion of the projects and did not oppose such action.”
The extra funds weren’t paid to any of the non-profit firms that had been initially funded. The NLC’s annual report identifies the brand new funding with the names of the organisations initially funded, however that is just for reporting functions.
Instead, the newest grants will be “controlled” by the engineers tasked with finishing development of the varied projects.
Finishing the job
The unfinished projects which have obtained extra funding are:
- A drug rehabilitation centre in Kuruman within the Northern Cape, which can obtain R14 million for its completion. Since 2016, Abrina, an NPC, has obtained R34.3 million from the NLC. A forensic investigation discovered that solely R5.3 million of the R22 million initially allotted was spent on the centre;
- An old-age house in Dumbe, close to Paulpietersburg in KwaZulu-Natal, which can obtain R13 million for its completion. An NPC referred to as Ubusu obtained a complete of R36.8 million in grants to construct this unfinished undertaking;
- An old-age home in Marapyane in Mpumalanga, which has now been allotted an additional R11 million to complete its development. Matiene Community Centre, a Limpopo-based NPO, was initially allotted R23.7 million. Some of the cash meant for this undertaking was used for the development of ex-NLC chief working officer Phillemon Letwaba’s home close by;
- An old-age house in North West, which has been allotted an additional R8.9 million for its completion. WAR_RnA, a hijacked non-profit firm, was given over R20 million in lottery grants for this undertaking;
- A drug rehab in Soshanguve, which has been given a further R8.6 million to complete development of the power. Zibsilor initially obtained over R20.7 million;
- A communal or multi-sport centre in Storms River, initially funded as a “boxing arena”, which has been allotted a further R4.3 million. Nunnovation, a Gauteng-based NPO, was given nearly R40 million to construct the supposed boxing enviornment; and
- R5 million in extra funds had been allotted to an unknown undertaking initially run by House of Mercy, one in every of a number of dodgy lottery-funded non-profits run by TV pastor Joyline Josamu and members of her household and shut associates. It has beforehand obtained R2.3 million.
Beyond restore
The NLC has determined not to complete an old-age home in Maila Village in Limpopo, the place Mushumo Ushavha Zwanda, a hijacked NPO, was used to steal millions of rands from the lottery.
Grants price R27.4 million had been used to start constructing the old-age house, however the NLC determined that it’s past restore. When GroundUp visited the house earlier this yr, the buildings had been in a really poor state. There had been no roofs, doorways or home windows, and the buildings had been abandoned to the weather and left to rot.
No extra funding was allotted for Denzhe Primary Care, a hijacked NPO, which obtained R27.5 million for the development of a drug rehab close to Pretoria. SkX estimated that solely R4.8 million of this was spent on the rehab’s development.
“House of Mercy and Denzhe are at the heart of the SIU investigation and we would like to await the outcome of that process,” mentioned Mafela.
Reaction
Mat Cuthbert, the Democratic Alliance shadow minister for Trade, Industry and Competition, who performed a key position in parliament in exposing the rot on the NLC, welcomed the choice to complete the projects.
“We are satisfied that [the NLC] took the appropriate steps to ensure that these organisations were not given the opportunity to misuse any more lottery funding and we are hopeful that the new leadership at the entity will continue to act prudently in this regard,” he mentioned.
Cleaning up corruption
The NLC’s annual report ought to have been accomplished final yr however was delayed due to misstatements and other issues discovered within the monetary statements. It was lastly accomplished in February this yr, when the Auditor-General issued a professional audit opinion, after in depth back-and-forth with the NLC, which had contested among the findings.
Mafela advised GroundUp that the NLC was within the strategy of inserting Zibsilor, Matiene, Nunnovation, WAR_RNA, Abrina and Ubusu and their administrators on its inside delinquency record in order that no additional funding would be superior to these organisations or their administrators.
“The NLC is currently reviewing all proactively funded projects for the 2021/22 financial year. Any irregularities identified will be referred to law enforcement agencies and recovery of funds will ensue,” mentioned Mafela.
© 2022 GroundUp. This article was first printed here.