{"id":166040,"date":"2020-09-17T06:39:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T04:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/scandal-ridden-lottery-board-chairman-to-leave-in-november\/"},"modified":"2020-09-17T06:39:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T04:39:06","slug":"scandal-ridden-lottery-board-chairman-to-leave-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/scandal-ridden-lottery-board-chairman-to-leave-in-november\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cScandal-ridden\u201d Lottery board chairman to leave in November"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article_body\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"1668765610\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/scandal-ridden-lottery-board-chairman-to-leave-in-november.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Current chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), Professor Alfred Nevhutanda. Photo from NLC Facebook page<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The current chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission, Professor Alfred Nevhutanda, has been embroiled in controversies (described below).<\/li>\n<li>He refused to resign when a Member of Parliament asked him to resign a few weeks ago.<\/li>\n<li>Earlier this month his position was advertised in the government gazette.<\/li>\n<li>The appointment date is 1 December 2020.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>The position of chairman of the National Lotteries Commission has been advertised, with the term of office of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/scandal-ridden-lottery-chairperson-serve-extra-year\/\">incumbent<\/a> Professor Alfred Nevhutanda due to end on 30 November.<\/p>\n<p>The post was <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1EXI6wc7vCXxasEB7K0zS58DppfMhTCsl\/view?usp=sharing\">advertised<\/a> in the Government Gazette on 4 September, with an appointment date of 1 December 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The NLC has been engulfed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/topic\/lotto\/\">ongoing reports<\/a> of corruption, nepotism, and maladministration. The Democratic Alliance\u2019s shadow minister for Trade and Industry Dean Macpherson, who has described Nevhutanda as \u201cscandal-ridden\u201d, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/SouthAfrica\/News\/police-probing-4-alleged-corrupt-projects-at-lottery-commission-but-board-chair-will-not-resign-20200902\">called on<\/a> him to resign, in light of the findings of an investigation into NLC corruption ordered by Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel.<\/p>\n<p>Macpherson\u2019s call, during a virtual meeting of Parliament\u2019s Trade and Industry Committee earlier this month, came after Department of Trade and Industry Director-General Lionel October told MPs that a dossier on Denzhe Primary Care, a dodgy non-profit organisation that had received R27.5 million to build a drug rehabilitation centre, had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/evidence-lottery-probe-handed-police\/\">handed to the police<\/a> to investigate. Another three multimillion-rand Lottery grants were also under investigation, October said.<\/p>\n<p>But a defiant Nevhutanda said he would not resign. \u201cThe answer is a big N-0, no! The minister is the one who will tell me to resign,\u201d he told Macpherson (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/SouthAfrica\/News\/police-probing-4-alleged-corrupt-projects-at-lottery-commission-but-board-chair-will-not-resign-20200902\">News24 report<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Nevhutanda\u2019s term was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/scandal-ridden-lottery-chairperson-serve-extra-year\/\">due to end<\/a> in November last year but it was extended for another year after a showdown with Patel. By then he had already served a statutory maximum of two five-year terms as the organisation\u2019s board chairman.<\/p>\n<p>Patel then extended Nevhutanda\u2019s term by a year. \u201cI concluded that it would be in the best interest of the National Lotteries Commission to secure a settlement and extended the period of appointment of the Chairperson for a one-year period to 30 November 2020,\u201d Patel told Macpherson in a written reply to a parliamentary question. This, he said, was done, \u201cwith an explicit agreement that this was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/19ZZQMkvjW7X--OcbPk77KMztlywNC5Ct\/view?usp=sharing\">in full and final\u201d settlement<\/a> of any claims that he may have or believes he may have\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The settlement means that Nevhutanda will have served 11 years in office by the time he finally vacates his position. He was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/politics\/lotto-chairman-back-with-a-bang-9253267\">reappointed for a second term<\/a> in the face of DA objections that the ANC had bulldozed Nevhutanda\u2019s reappointment \u201cdespite his chequered and controversial past\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Although the NLC position is not as an executive chairman, Nevhutanda is very \u201chands-on\u201d and maintains a permanent office at the NLC\u2019s Pretoria headquarters, according to several sources who work there. He <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1vadMLuyGXOrYG2RSin6wXPp2-r30Ioq2\/view?usp=sharing\">earned<\/a> R1,468,000 in board fees as NLC chairman in 2019. He received a further R103,000 for \u201ctravel costs\u201d and R21,000 for \u201ccellphone allowance\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Besides his position at the NLC, he is also a director of 33 companies, according to<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cipc.co.za\/za\/\"> Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC)<\/a> records. He has directorships in mining, investment, resources and IT companies.<\/p>\n<p>Until recently, the NLC has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/anc-defends-corruption-accused-national-lotteries-commission-20200310\">enjoyed the protection<\/a> of the ANC-dominated portfolio committee and its chairman, Duma Nkosi. But Patel appears to have lost patience with the NLC and the tide has turned, possibly also because of President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s public stance against corruption in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>A senior pastor with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.highergracechurch.org\/leadership\">Higher Grace Church International<\/a>, Nevhutanda was originally appointed NLC board chairman in 2009, under the Presidency of Jacob Zuma. He is a former chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo and was one of the key fundraisers for the ANC\u2019s 2009 election campaign in Limpopo.<\/p>\n<p>At the time of his appointment, he was <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1S3O3cnF8VLEi48FB_9t5VVroJxYxEJKJ\/view?usp=sharing\">Executive Director of Coal of Africa<\/a>, an Australian Company, which was planning to mine in the Mapungubwe world heritage site. The company was in conflict with the Venda community over its mining plans, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inyathelo.org.za\/images\/publications\/meetingtheirmandates.pdf\">2011 report<\/a> on the National Lotteries Board \u2014 the previous name of the NLC \u2014 by the Funding Practice Alliance (FPA). He is no longer listed as a director of Coal of Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Nevhutanda has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politicsweb.co.za\/politics\/nlc-wants-to-set-ssa-on-journos--sanef\">been in the forefront <\/a>of attacks against GroundUp\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/topic\/lotto\/\">reporting<\/a> of corruption, nepotism and maladministration involving Lottery grants. He has told Parliament that the State Security Agency was asked to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>He also has told Parliament, without producing any evidence, that the NLC\u2019s computers had been hacked and \u201cinformation about projects since 2001 was in the US, with a backup in the Western Cape\u201d. This, he said, was the source of media reports about the NLC. Journalists, he said, were being paid to write \u201cfake stories about the misspending by the NLC, with the intention of bringing down the organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Nevhutanda\u2019s term in office has been marked by several controversies. Soon after his first term began in 2009 it was revealed that an organisation, Makhaya Arts and Culture, which had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/southafrica\/news\/keeping-it-all-in-the-lotto-family-20111112-2\">employed his daughter<\/a>, received R41-million in Lottery funding. Nevhutanda denied that this constituted a conflict of interest as, he claimed, his daughter had only begun working for Makhaya Arts and Culture after it had applied for funding.<\/p>\n<p>Also on his watch, the Lottery gave trade union umbrella body Cosatu R1-million in 2011 for a birthday bash. And the Lottery also gave a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/politics\/fury-over-r100m-kiss-fest-1112494\">R40-million grant<\/a> to help <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2011-10-10-as-a-total-breakdown-of-nydas-kiss-fest-spending-is-published-outrage-turns-to-anger\/\">pay <\/a>for the National Youth Development Agency\u2019s (NYDA) 2010 World Festival of Youth and Students which was dubbed the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/politics\/fury-over-r100m-kiss-fest-1112494\">kiss fest<\/a>\u201d because of the \u201clarge number of participants spotted kissing each other, and sleeping\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"article-copyright\">\n<p>\u00a9 2020 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\" rel=\"license\">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and GroundUp, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/scandal-ridden-lottery-board-chairman-to-leave-in-november.jpg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/\">Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Current chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), Professor Alfred Nevhutanda. Photo from NLC Facebook page The current chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission, Professor Alfred Nevhutanda, has been embroiled in controversies (described below). He refused to resign when a Member of Parliament asked him to resign a few weeks ago. Earlier this month his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-166040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/scandal-ridden-lottery-board-chairman-to-leave-in-november.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}