A former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) chief operating officer, who faced internal charges involving two dodgy multimillion-rand lottery grants, has been summarily dismissed.
Sanele Dlamini, a former KwaZulu-Natal provincial manager, was appointed as NLC acting chief operating officer after the sudden resignation of Phillemon Letwaba, who was facing disciplinary charges at the time. Among the charges Letwaba faced was signing off on the two projects which are being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Hawks.
GroundUp previously reported on one of these projects, a sports centre in Soweto that was never built despite the NLC forking out millions of rands.
Another disciplinary hearing has recommended that Sibonelo Vilakazi, a client liaison officer at the NLC KwaZulu-Natal office, be dismissed.
Vilikazi's disciplinary inquiry heard how a company in which his wife was the sole director benefited from lottery grants to football clubs and crèches.
Both Dlamini and Vilakazi have appealed, which has effectively suspended their dismissals. They will continue to be paid their full salaries until their appeals are resolved.
Seven other employees also face charges
Six other NLC employees are also facing disciplinary inquiries and have been placed on cautionary suspension, according to a written response by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau to questions submitted by DA MP Toby Chance.
A seventh person has also been charged with disciplinary offences but is not on suspension.
So far, the six have been paid almost R8.4-million in total in salaries since their suspension. They were suspended at various times between November 2022 and July 2024.
"The NLC has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and officials are placed on precautionary suspension where implicated in SIU or other forensic audit reports," Tau said.
Among those who have been suspended is NLC company secretary Nompumelo Nene, who has been paid almost R5-million since her suspension on 18 November 2022. She was ordered to pay punitive costs by the Johannesburg High Court earlier this year after she failed in an attempt to stop her disciplinary hearing from going ahead.
Tau's response did not identify the suspended officials by name and only gave their positions.
Besides Nene, the suspended officials include Gugulethu Yako, the NLC's legal manager, who has been paid R1.6-million since her suspension in October 2023; Free State provincial manager Thokozile Mandyu, who has been paid almost R650,000 since her suspension early in July 2024; and Free State deputy provincial manager Mavis Tabane, who has been paid over R500,000 since her suspension, also in July 2024.
"Of the historic 34 employees cited for consequence management in forensic reports predating the new Board and Commissioner, 16 officials resigned and one official was medically boarded," Tau said in response to Chance's questions. "This number also included SIU referrals."
"In instances where the officials are part of the Presidential Proclamation and SIU investigations, officials will be prosecuted. In other cases of fraud and corruption, criminal cases will be opened and where applicable, funds recovered."
"It is important to note that all SIU criminal referrals are submitted to the Regional Head of the Special Commercial Crimes Unit, Advocate Marshall Mokgatlhe," Tau said.
Dodgy contracts
Dlamini, who acted briefly as the NLC's chief operating, was summarily dismissed on 27 September but has appealed. He was found guilty of several charges connected with two lottery-funded projects.
One involved the Phumelela Educational Training Projects, which received almost R9.6-million between 2014 and 2018. It is not clear which years' grants were investigated by the SIU.
Dlamini was also found guilty in connection with non-compliant grants to Motheo Sports and Education Trust, and of failing to provide information requested by the Auditor-General.
Dlamini was charged with signing off on a Motheo project report claiming "everything was in order" when, in fact, nothing had happened on the site.
Motheo allocated a R9-million grant for the project. But only R6-million of this was paid; R3-million was withheld when a new NLC administration was appointed and a site inspection by NLC officials found an empty property being used by locals as a rubbish dump. Steps are underway to recover the money paid to Motheo.
The NLC has opened two cases against Motheo. Both are being investigated by the Commercial Crimes Unit.
Responding to questions from GroundUp, Dlamini said, "The NLC's Standard Operating Procedure clearly states that no sanction can be implemented before the appeal process is finalised. I am, therefore, still an employee of NLC and accordingly receive all my employment benefits from the organisation."
Dlamini declined to comment on questions about Motheo and Phumelela.
"The other issues you have raised shall be addressed during the appeal process," he said.
Charges against Vilakazi
Vilakazi was found guilty on several charges, including that his wife, Nosipho Zanele Zuma, benefited from payments to her company by non-profits that had received lottery grants. He was also found guilty of a conflict of interest for not disclosing these payments.
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SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi told Parliament in February last year how the alleged misappropriation of lottery funds was orchestrated.
GroundUp reported how R32-million was paid by hundreds of grassroots organisations into the bank account of his wife's business, 05 ZZET Enterprise (Pty) Ltd.
The SIU was granted an application in the Special Tribunal in September last year to freeze four of her companies and her personal bank accounts.
The SIU said there was about R2.4-million in the frozen accounts. It is unclear what has happened to the other R30-million paid to her company.
"The money was paid into the accounts by non-profit organisations that received funding from the NLC to improve the conditions of ordinary South Africans but [instead] made its way into bank accounts for self-enrichment," the SIU said at the time.
The SIU said its investigations had revealed that Vilakazi, who worked as an NLC client liaison officer in Durban, approached daycare centres and football clubs in KZN to ask them to apply for grant funding.
Immediately after receiving funding, these clubs and centres would then transfer large sums of money into ZZET's bank account, as well as other bank accounts linked to Zuma, the SIU said.
GroundUp was unable to contact Vilakazi.
