Lottery bosses turned to Condition Security Agency to investigate leaks

Lottery bosses turned to Condition Security Agency to investigate leaks

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Previous Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda requested the Condition Security Agency (SSA) in December 2018 to analyze the leaking of documents that exposed lottery corruption.
The NLC’s business secretary at the time outlined media reports she reported have been according to “stolen” information within an affidavit for your SSA.
The SSA did examine. It discovered the data was not a make a difference of condition stability and which the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “ample motive” for your media to show it.
A fresh board and management has considering that taken more than the NLC and Up to now have taken measures to finish corruption at the institution.
A Condition Protection Company (SSA) investigation observed the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “presented enough motive” for exposure because of the media.

The probe into intended “information and facts security 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 analyze.

Here's

Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by presently suspended NLC firm secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the request, and
the safety agency’s “private” conclusions and recommendations.
Nevhutanda requested the SSA to analyze the position of NLC employees while in the alleged leaking of knowledge, and Nene, in her affidavit discovered unique media and reports that she claimed concerned these leaks.

While in the letter outlining its results, the SSA explained to the NLC that when shielding condition info was “a authorized crucial targeted at safeguarding the sovereignty and integrity of the point out” this only applied to correctly classified data.

Even though it didn't say so straight, the SSA results implied the allegedly leaked facts didn't drop into this class.

Drastically, the SSA manufactured it clear that the necessity to shield point out facts “isn't going to avert any specific from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminality”.

The SSA investigation observed that the NLC details linked to the alleged breach was “delicate and privileged in character, although not categorized in terms of the prescripts of the Minimum amount Data Stability Criteria (Pass up)”.

“The leakage of your suitable sensitive official NLC data into the media does not pose a threat to nationwide protection,” the SSA mentioned, incorporating the affect with the breaches was reputational.

The SSA report uncovered “no evidence of the factual and incriminating mother nature in opposition to any on the suspected NLC workforce that may be discovered from the information and info interrogated”.

What's more, it stated that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities in the NLC and at its beneficiaries does give ample motive to have these uncovered inside the media”.

Conspiracy statements
In 2020, Nevhutanda advised MPs during a session of Parliament’s trade, market and Levels of competition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” by which info “stolen” from your NLC was sent to the US, where by he claimed it had been remaining sold to fund a smear marketing campaign against the NLC.

He was repeating related statements he had Earlier created in Parliament, which integrated advert hominem assaults on GroundUp which reporter but was watchful not to name both.

“I arrived in this article With this August house final yr and documented to honourable customers that specifics of our beneficiaries has become stolen and set in one state in the usa,” he instructed MPs.

“We referred to as within the Condition Safety Agency to come investigate the subject because we're finding studies that our details is creating dollars for media platforms and journalists,” he reported. “There have been communicate, obviously from a person supply, just one media, that spoke Substantially about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda said (referring to GroundUp), but did not convey to MPs the SSA investigation were accomplished Virtually a calendar year before.

Proactive funding was at the center from the looting from the lottery. It facet-stepped the normal grant approach. The NLC could itself recognize a undertaking to fund and appoint a non-income organisation to oversee it.

Soon after Nevhutanda first told Parliament in 2018 that he experienced asked the SSA to analyze the meant breach, the South African National Editors Forum issued a statement indicating that his remarks reflected “an especially hazardous Mindset where the media is currently being blamed for the NLC’s inherent difficulties”.

“Rather than investigating why thousands and thousands cannot be accounted for, the NLC has as an alternative attempted to cast question on the integrity with the journalists involved and has questioned the SSA to analyze their sources.”

Proactive assignments built key
Protection flaws discovered in the NLC grant funding program over the SSA’s investigation, surface to happen to be employed as an justification by the NLC to remove all proactive-funded jobs from its central grants procedure.

“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all Professional-actively funding assignments was heightened to ‘mystery’ and tasks were faraway from the grant funding system and maintained manually underneath the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Information Office, Government Supervisor Legal in order to safeguard [the] data,” Nene said in her affidavit.

“There was many interior discussion, with a lot of forwards and backwards, about how to proceed to plug the alleged leaks”, a resource, who was inside a senior placement for the NLC at some time, explained to GroundUp. “Eventually, the choice was taken to eliminate the many proactive jobs within the procedure and Restrict entry to a handful of people”.

Some in that handful of folks ended up implicated in corruption.

Maselwa, who resigned from the NLC quite a few yrs ago, has been implicated in corruption involving lottery cash. He obtained R4.three-million from lottery resources allocated to create a library and museum complex in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Audio and Arts Expo) which he used to create a dwelling in an upmarket gated growth in Pretoria. The residence is among several paid for with lottery funds that were frozen after the Asset Forfeiture Device attained a preservation get in December 2022.

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

Also implicated are previous board associates William Huma, who resigned following he was confronted with proof of how he had profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who's got given that died.

Any time a new administration, including the overall board and executive, took around on the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they learned a “chaotic mess” in the documentation associated with proactive funding, Substantially of which was paper-based. Important documents had been missing. Files held for safekeeping by document storage business Metrofile had been signed out and never returned.

The NLC was in a position to recover copies of some hihuay paperwork from its Mimecast email archiving method and also the laptops of their assistants and assist team.

News reviews
In his 1 December 2018 letter, addressed to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has mentioned with grave concern possible info security breaches and the unauthorised use and/or dissemination of private info received due to accomplishing Formal capabilities in the Fee by NLC staff members. The pursuits are meant to undermine the integrity with the Commission when disrupting the powerful functions [of your NLC] and triggering insurmountable reputational hurt to your Fee given that the custodian of private information and facts entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”

His ask for for your SSA to investigate was supported in an affidavit by suspended NLC enterprise secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.

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

The objective of her affidavit, Nene said, was “to record the functions which transpired regarding information and facts stability breaches for the Nationwide Lotteries Commission”.

She detailed different news experiences which she claimed were being the outcome of such “breaches” (see at the end of this informative article).

Nene reported that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that among its staff members, Sello Qhino, experienced “provided her classified NLC Details and persistently inspired her to offer the data to GroundUp”.

Qhino, who blew the whistle over a series of dodgy lottery-funded initiatives in Kuruman just after tries to boost The problem internally had been ignored, was subsequently fired.

Referring to an eighteen November 2018 posting during the Each day Dispatch about the misappropriation of Lottery resources, Nene reported the NLC recognized then suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an employee during the NLC’s East London Business, who was the lover as well as the mother of whistleblower Mzukise Makatse’s 3 children.

Rungqu and Makatse imagine Rungqu was punished because Makatse blew the whistle. She was suspended and charged internally, Together with the NLC expending R470,000 on lawyers to signify it, but was identified not guilty and permitted to return to operate.

“The frequent Consider these posts is the fact [they involve] categorized data concerning proactive funding projects,” Nene stated in her affidavit.

When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out in the relatives household to go ahead and take heat off her and his youngsters. Going through homelessness, he moved into an Place of work in an vacant manufacturing facility belonging to a pal.

Both Makatse and Qhino are taking part in an NLC reparation approach intended to recognise the damage many people experienced with the arms on the NLC. Apologies and, in some instances, economical compensation are predicted.

“Some individuals had been definitely affected quite negatively by this … This is admittedly painful,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz informed the Daily Maverick final yr.

“I satisfied several these persons. It absolutely was just so coronary heart-wrenching that their complete lives happen to be turned upside down,” said Scholtz.

Among the Those people she fulfilled have been Qhino and Makatse.

Protected System wanted for whistleblowers
The SSA identified the absence at the time of a suitable channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to turn on the media.

“Failure to have a devoted anti-corruption channel will result in personnel presenting this kind of scenarios beyond the NLC,” the SSA stated in its results.

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

It advised that the NLC build a “Safe and sound channel” for employees to deliver information on any “untoward exercise” that could not avoid or discourage employees from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers coverage, according to the Secured Disclosures Act 25 of 2000, can be a requirement.”

Media studies Nene mentioned
A 10 December 2017 report while in the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Health and Physical fitness Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has worked 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 raising issue on interior Facts protection breaches. The allegations inside the media had been independently investigated,” Nene said. “However, workforce to blame for divulging categorized information and facts have nevertheless to become determined”;
A 28 January 2018 post released from the Dally Dispatch “citing quite a few allegations from the Limpopo Mirror write-up released on ten December 2017 and a new allegation associated with a former worker because of the identify of Mzukisi Makatse. He was billed and summarily dismissed for that menace brought about into the organisation.”
A sixteen November 2018 report from the Lowvelder with regard to the misappropriation of NLC cash involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has documented how, in spite of acquiring R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab has not been finished. “The Lowvelder posting contained labeled info in terms of NLC coverage, boosting more concerns of inner information and facts security breaches,” Nene explained in her affidavit. “The prima facie proof with regard to these allegations did not warrant an independent Investigation, on the other hand [it] highlighted the heightened information security hazards in the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose a couple of dodgy R27.5-million grant to Denzhe Principal Care, a hijacked NPO. Nene explained GroundUp had confirmed in its Tale that it absolutely was dependant on leaked NLC files. This was despite the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Promotion of Usage of Information and facts) ask for for specifics regarding the venture, she said

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