SIU interdicts payout due to former lotteries manager

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has obtained a Special Tribunal order interdicting the R1.7 million pension payout due to former National Lotteries Commission’s (NLC) Grant Manager, Marubini Ramatsekisa.

This comes after the SIU had conducted a lengthy investigation into the affairs of the NLC.

The probe has resulted in, amongst other things, the freezing of millions of rands in assets and the implication of board members of the commission in serious allegations of fraud and corruption.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago explained that Ramatsekisa allegedly “orchestrated a scheme that resulted in the NLC losing approximately R4 million” and was a “key player” in a scheme to defraud the commission through active funding of a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO).

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“The SIU’s investigation revealed that on 20 February 2019, Ramatsekisa prepared a proposal for pro-active funding and recommended that the acting chief operating officer approve pro-active funding of approximately R4 million to conduct a study that will assist in developing the Khoi-San language.

“Three weeks later, three people acquired and became directors of a dormant shelf company named Zibsicraft NPC. From the documents in the SIU’s possession, Zibsicraft NPC then applied to the NLC for grant funding. The application is not stamped, which means it was never processed by the client liaison officer. The application was dated 25 March 2019, ten days after they had acquired the company,” Kganyago said.

He further noted that the application was accompanied by financial statements prepared for the periods ending 28 February 2018 and 28 February 2019. However, the NPO only opened a bank account on 19 March 2019, six days before it applied for funding.

Kganyago added that some R2.2 million of the dodgy funding was allegedly siphoned “towards purchasing property for a church… [and] in the offer to purchase, the church was being represented by the former NLC Board Chairperson, Alfred Nevhutanda and his wife, Mrs Tshilidzi Rachel Nevhutanda”.

According to Kganyago, the SIU intends to “institute civil proceedings against Mr Ramatsekisa to recover damages suffered by NLC because of his conduct”.