Lottery bosses turned to Point out Protection Company to research leaks

Lottery bosses turned to Point out Protection Company to research leaks

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Previous National Lotteries Fee (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda asked the Condition Security Agency (SSA) in December 2018 to investigate the leaking of paperwork that exposed lottery corruption.
The NLC’s company secretary at the time detailed media stories she claimed were determined by “stolen” facts within an affidavit to the SSA.
The SSA did examine. It identified the information wasn't a make any difference of point out protection and that the “prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities” gave “enough motive” to the media to show it.
A completely new board and management has because taken above the NLC and So far have taken actions to finish corruption with the institution.
A Condition Protection Company (SSA) investigation observed that the “prevalence” of alleged corruption and irregularities involving the NLC and its beneficiaries “presented enough motive” for exposure from the media.

The probe into supposed “information protection breaches and sabotage of NLC operations” was carried out following then-NLC board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda wrote for the SSA in December 2018 requesting it to analyze.

Here is

Nevhutanda’s letter,
an affidavit by at this time suspended NLC business secretary Nompumelelo Nene supporting the request, and
the safety company’s “private” conclusions and proposals.
Nevhutanda requested the SSA to analyze the role of NLC staff members in the alleged leaking of information, and Nene, in her affidavit identified certain media and stories that she claimed associated these leaks.

While in the letter outlining its findings, the SSA told the NLC that when guarding condition information was “a lawful very important aimed toward safeguarding the sovereignty and integrity in the state” this only applied to correctly classified info.

Even though it didn't say so directly, the SSA findings implied that the allegedly leaked facts didn't slide into this group.

Drastically, the SSA manufactured it very clear that the necessity to defend point out data “doesn't reduce any specific from blowing the whistle on corruption or irregular or criminality”.

The SSA investigation identified the NLC information associated with the alleged breach was “sensitive and privileged in character, although not categorised with regards to the prescripts on the Minimum amount Information Stability Requirements (MISS)”.

“The leakage from the pertinent sensitive Formal NLC facts to your media won't pose a risk to countrywide protection,” the SSA mentioned, adding which the effect of the breaches was reputational.

The SSA report observed “no evidence of the factual and incriminating mother nature in opposition to any of the suspected NLC staff members that may be determined from the data and info interrogated”.

It also stated that “the prevalence of alleged corruption and irregularities inside the NLC and at its beneficiaries does give sufficient motive to obtain this kind of exposed within the media”.

Conspiracy claims
In 2020, Nevhutanda informed MPs in the course of a session of Parliament’s trade, market and Levels of competition portfolio committee that there was “a conspiracy” where data “stolen” from your NLC was sent into the US, the place he claimed it was remaining offered to fund a smear marketing campaign in opposition to the NLC.

He was repeating similar statements he experienced previously designed in Parliament, which integrated advertisement hominem assaults on GroundUp which reporter but was cautious not to name both.

“I arrived in this article On this August household past year and noted to honourable associates that information regarding our beneficiaries has actually been stolen and set in a single condition in America,” he informed MPs.

“We referred to as within the State Stability Agency to come look into the make any difference for the reason that we have been obtaining experiences that our facts is producing revenue for media platforms and journalists,” he explained. “There has been chat, obviously from just one resource, a single media, that spoke A great deal about proactive-funding,” Nevhutanda stated (referring to GroundUp), but did not notify MPs which the SSA investigation were done almost a year earlier.

Proactive funding was at the heart of the looting from the lottery. It side-stepped the traditional grant system. The NLC could alone establish a job to fund and appoint a non-financial gain organisation to oversee it.

Following Nevhutanda first advised Parliament in 2018 that he experienced asked the SSA to investigate the meant breach, the South African Nationwide Editors Forum issued a press release declaring that his remarks reflected “an extremely harmful Mind-set wherever the media is remaining blamed to the NLC’s inherent problems”.

“Rather than investigating why thousands and thousands cannot be accounted for, the NLC has as an alternative attempted to cast question within the integrity in the journalists included and has requested the SSA to analyze their resources.”

Proactive assignments produced solution
Stability flaws discovered inside the NLC grant funding program through the SSA’s investigation, seem to have been employed as an excuse with the NLC to get rid of all proactive-funded projects from its central grants process.

“In or about 21 December 2019, the classification of all pro-actively funding projects was heightened to ‘secret’ and initiatives ended up faraway from the grant funding technique and maintained manually beneath the custody of [Tsietsi Maselwa] the NLC’s [then] Deputy Data Workplace, Government Supervisor Lawful to be able to safeguard [the] data,” Nene explained in her affidavit.

“There was many inside dialogue, with numerous forwards and backwards, about how to proceed to plug the alleged leaks”, a supply, who was within a senior place in the NLC at some time, explained to GroundUp. “In the long run, the decision was taken to eliminate all the proactive initiatives through the technique and Restrict entry to A few folks”.

Some in that handful of folks were being implicated in corruption.

Maselwa, who resigned through the NLC numerous years in the past, continues to be implicated in corruption involving lottery cash. He been given R4.three-million from lottery resources allotted to make a library and museum complex in Kuruman (see Taung Cultural Music and Arts Expo) which he utilized to construct a home within an upmarket gated enhancement in Pretoria. The residence is one of a number of compensated for with lottery cash that were frozen once the Asset Forfeiture Unit attained a preservation purchase in December 2022.

The politically-related Nevhutanda, who was appointed as being the NLC board chairperson by former President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and was near to high-ups from the ANC leadership, former NLC previous Commissioner Thabang Mampane, and ex-Main operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, have all been implicated from the corruption which confused the NLC on their look at.

Also implicated are previous board users William Huma, who resigned right after he was confronted with evidence of how he had profited from corrupt lottery grants, and Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who's got considering the fact that died.

When a new administration, including the whole board and executive, took more than in the NLC in late 2022 and early 2023, they identified a “chaotic mess” inside the documentation referring to proactive funding, A lot of which was paper-based. Key paperwork have been lacking. Information held for safekeeping by doc storage firm Metrofile had been signed out and by no means returned.

The NLC was capable of recover copies of some ตรวจ หวย ย้อน หลัง files from its Mimecast email archiving program plus the laptops in their assistants and support employees.

News reviews
In his 1 December 2018 letter, addressed to then SSA Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Nevhutanda wrote: “The NLC has noted with grave issue probable information stability breaches as well as unauthorised use and/or dissemination of private details obtained on account of undertaking official capabilities while in the Commission by NLC workforce. The pursuits are meant to undermine the integrity in the Fee although disrupting the effective features [with the NLC] and leading to insurmountable reputational damage into the Commission since the custodian of non-public information and facts entrusted to it by its beneficiaries.”

His request for your SSA to research was supported in an affidavit by suspended NLC firm secretary, Nomphumelelo Nene.

Nene is at this time struggling with a disciplinary inquiry following she was unsuccessful in legal motion to put aside findings of irregular expenditure on her view.

The purpose of her affidavit, Nene said, was “to history the situations which transpired regarding data security breaches within the Nationwide Lotteries Fee”.

She shown numerous information reports which she claimed ended up the outcomes of those “breaches” (see at the conclusion of this post).

Nene said that a whistle-blower approached the NLC alleging that one among its workforce, Sello Qhino, had “offered her labeled NLC Facts and persistently inspired her to deliver the data to GroundUp”.

Qhino, who blew the whistle with a number of dodgy lottery-funded jobs in Kuruman after tries to lift The difficulty internally ended up overlooked, was subsequently fired.

Referring to an 18 November 2018 article in the Day by day Dispatch about the misappropriation of Lottery cash, Nene mentioned which the NLC recognized and after that suspended Zintle Rungqu. She was an personnel inside the NLC’s East London office, who was the associate and also 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, With all the NLC paying out R470,000 on legal professionals to stand for it, but was found not responsible and permitted to return to operate.

“The prevalent Consider these content is usually that [they require] labeled data associated with proactive funding projects,” Nene reported in her affidavit.

When Runqu was suspended, Makatse moved out with the household house to go ahead and take heat off her and his little ones. Going through homelessness, he moved into an office in an vacant manufacturing unit belonging to a pal.

The two Makatse and Qhino are taking part in an NLC reparation method intended to recognise the harm some individuals suffered within the hands with the NLC. Apologies and, sometimes, fiscal compensation are predicted.

“Some persons ended up definitely impacted really negatively by this … This is absolutely distressing,” NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz informed the Day-to-day Maverick previous calendar year.

“I met several these people. It had been just so heart-wrenching that their total lives happen to be turned the wrong way up,” said Scholtz.

Among These she met were Qhino and Makatse.

Safe System essential for whistleblowers
The SSA identified the absence at some time of a suitable channel for whistleblowers to report corruption led them to show on the media.

“Failure to possess a devoted anti-corruption channel will lead to employees presenting these circumstances beyond the NLC,” the SSA stated in its results.

“Given the magnitude of corruption in condition establishments, it remains very important that it makes certain that the NLC complies with all protection prescripts Which its concentrate is on making certain that illegal and irregular carry out is adequately mitigated in opposition to and by guaranteeing an enough channel for whistle-blowers to report untoward carry out devoid of staying intimidated.”

It proposed the NLC set up a “Secure channel” for workers to offer information on any “untoward activity” that will not stop or discourage workers from blowing the whistle. A whistle-blowers plan, according to the Secured Disclosures Act twenty five of 2000, is usually a necessity.”

Media experiences Nene shown
A ten December 2017 report while in the Limpopo Mirror about corruption and maladministration involving the Lottery-funded Vhembe Well being and Fitness Centre in Limpopo. GroundUp has worked closely with Anton van Zyl, an investigative reporter and owner of the Limpopo Mirror, to expose NLC corruption. “The report experienced features of information not offered in the general public area, thus boosting concern on internal Details protection breaches. The allegations during the media were independently investigated,” Nene said. “Nonetheless, workers liable for divulging classified information have however to be discovered”;
A 28 January 2018 posting posted via the Dally Dispatch “citing a lot of allegations from your Limpopo Mirror posting printed on ten December 2017 as well as a new allegation relating to a former worker because of the identify of Mzukisi Makatse. He was charged and summarily dismissed to the menace caused towards the organisation.”
A 16 November 2018 article inside the Lowvelder about the misappropriation of NLC resources involving a lottery-funded drug rehabilitation centre. GroundUp has described how, Regardless of receiving R27-million in lottery grants, the rehab hasn't been accomplished. “The Lowvelder article contained categorised details in terms of NLC coverage, boosting even more concerns of inner information protection breaches,” Nene said in her affidavit. “The prima facie evidence regarding these allegations did not warrant an impartial Investigation, having said that [it] highlighted the heightened information security dangers within the NLC.”
A 22 November 2018 GroundUp expose about a dodgy R27.five-million grant to Denzhe Most important Treatment, a hijacked NPO. Nene explained GroundUp had confirmed in its Tale that it had been depending on leaked NLC documents. This was Regardless of the NLC rejecting a PAIA (Promotion of Usage of Facts) request for details with regard to the job, she mentioned