DTI washes its hands of lottery scandal
15 August 2019
Over the last two weeks GroundUp has revealed evidence of dodgy dealings at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) implicating senior management. To date there has been little response from government to allegations of mismanagement of funds by the NLC, despite it being a state owned entity.
On 13 May, GroundUp reported Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) spokesperson Sidwell Medupe saying: “The Minister has instructed the NLC Board and DTI Internal Audit to institute an investigation.”
A day later a press statement by the NLC claimed that an investigation is being conducted by the board into two funded projects. Its unclear what the status of this investigation is; we’ve received no answers to our questions about it.
When asked for information on whether the NLC intends to investigate allegations of conflicts of interest involving NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba, the NLC spokesperson Mr Ndivhuho Mafela responded via email: