DA cautiously welcomes the appointment of Pityana as NLC chairperson

12 July 2022

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by Mat Cuthbert MP.

The DA cautiously welcomes the appointment of Dr Barney Pityana as the new Chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).

While he received one of the three highest scores from the DA members of the interview panel, we are all too aware of how deep the rot is at the NLC and the herculean effort it will take to clean it up.

Furthermore, we will not let the personal political differences between ourselves and Dr Pityana come in the way of our working relationship and we will be requesting a meeting with him to discuss what we think he should be prioritising at the entity.

We would like to place on record that our support for him as NLC chairperson is contingent on him sticking to his commitment to fight corruption – if a situation arises where he fails to do so, our support will be withdrawn.

Lastly, we wish him well in his tenure and will cooperate with him and his board to ensure that those who stole money from grannies, the sick and marginalised communities are put behind bars.

Issued by Mat Cuthbert, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, 12 July 2022