Special Tribunal freezes two properties bought with lottery funds

Funds from a R13-million National Lotteries Commission grant for an agricultural project were used to buy homes for directors of non-profit organisations. Illustration: Lisa Nelson

• Funds from a R13-million National Lotteries Commission (NLC) grant for an agricultural project to benefit 1,900 unemployed people were used to buy homes for directors of non-profit organisations.
• The Special Investigating Unit has now issued a preservation order freezing two of these properties.
• The funds paid to non-profit Malusi WeSizwe were motivated and then approved on the same day, and allocated through the discredited proactive funding model, which was stopped when a new administration and board took over the NLC.

The Special Investigating Unit has issued a preservation order over two properties bought with funds from a R13-million lottery grant for an agricultural project in KwaZulu-Natal.

The project, run by non-profit company Malusi WeSizwe, was meant to benefit almost 1,900 unemployed people, including unemployed youth and elderly community members. Some of the funds were instead used to buy two private homes, one in Soshanguve in Pretoria and the other in The Orchards, a suburb in Hartbeeshoek, both in the name of Nelisiwe Mahlangu, a director of Malusi WeSizwe.

The preservation order, granted by Judge Brian A. Mashile on 15 April, prevents the sale, leasing or disposing of the two properties. The judge also instructed the Deeds Registry Office in Pretoria to add a caveat to the properties’ deeds that they may not be transferred without an order by the Tribunal or a court.

Funds from the grant were also used towards paying for a luxury home for Alfred Sigudhla, the founder and executive director of the Southern African Youth Movement (SAYM). SAYM received almost R70-million from the NLC for several different projects.

“Proactive funding” used

The multimillion-rand 2018 grant to Malusi WeSizwe followed a similar pattern to other dodgy grants exposed by GroundUp over the years.

It was motivated by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) former grant manager, Marubini Ramatsekisa, who submitted an internal proposal on 14 September 2018 for R13-million in “proactive funding” for the agricultural project.

Proactive funding allowed the NLC’s board to allocate funding to organisations without the normal application process. It became the primary mechanism to loot funds intended for good causes. It was stopped when a new NLC administration and board were appointed in 2023.

Ramatsekisa resigned in 2024 while on suspension before he could face a disciplinary enquiry into a raft of serious charges, including enabling “the commission of corrupt or fraudulent activities against the NLC” and gross misconduct and dereliction of duty.

The Malusi WeSizwe grant was approved by former NLC COO Philemon Letwaba, on the same day Ramatsekisa had motivated for it. Letwaba also resigned under a cloud just weeks before he was due to appear before a disciplinary hearing to answer charges of abusing his position to enrich himself and his family.

Malusi WeSizwe cycled through several directors, with various people being appointed and others resigning, according to public company records.

Instead of the NLC distributing agencies, which adjudicated normal funding applications, an NLC “adjudication committee” set up to handle proactive funding approved the grant of R13-million on 1 November 2018.

Five days later, after being informed that their application was successful, Malusi WeSizwe opened a bank account. The same day, Sinqobile Khumalo, appointed as a director five months earlier, signed the grant agreement. At the time, Khumalo, Margaret Sithole, and Lawrence Malungwa were listed as directors of the organisation.

Directors resign

After the grant was approved and signed, the existing directors resigned, and Nelisiwe Mahlangu was appointed the same day.

A month later, R7-million was paid to Malusi WeSizwe. The whole process was extremely quick compared to the time usually taken by the NLC to approve and pay out a grant. At the time of the payment, the company had R100 in its account.

On 5 March 2019, the NLC paid a second tranche of R6-million, and three months later, Mahlangu, using funds from the grant, bought a house in Soshanguve for R345,000, according to the SIU.

A few months later, Malusi WeSize paid out R200,000 and R300,000, both marked as “investments”. It is not clear who the recipients were.

Then, between 6 March and 12 November, a total of R5.6-million was paid to Trizaflo (Pty) Ltd., owned by Wisani Mabundza.

Tizaflo paid R21-million to attorneys acting for the purchase of a home by Alfred Sigudhla, the founder and executive director of SAYM.

Sigudhla’s house was frozen by the Special Tribunal in June last year after the SIU told a judge how it had used bank statements to follow the money used to pay for the house.

Their investigation revealed the funds came from Malusi WeSizwe’s grant for the KZN agriculture project, and from a R23-million grant allocated to build an old-age home in the Free State.

SAYM received nearly R70-million in grants from the lottery. This also included funding for a drug rehabilitation centre in Mpumalanga, and a musical that was meant to tour three provinces but only ran for five days.

Graphics from the SIU

Joining the dots

Malusi WeSizwe shares several past and present directors with Ubusi, a non-profit that received R36-million in lottery funding over the past nine years for an old age home in KZN that has never been completed.

Malusi WeSizwe also shares directors and a registered address, in Rhenosterkop in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, with Spirinex, another NLC-funded organisation. The address is the site of the unfinished Mpumalanga old-age home.

In total, Malusi WeSizwe has shared six directors with Ubusu since its registration in 2012. Five of these directors have resigned from their roles in both companies.

One of the three current directors of Malusi WeSizwe is Goodness Nelisiwe Mahlangu, who is also a director of SAYM and Spirinex, which received R3-million in NLC funding in 2017.

Apart from sharing directors with Ubusu and Spirinex, Malusi WeSizwe also shares a registered business address with Upbrand Properties, a company linked to former NLC chief operations officer Philemon Letwaba.

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