WeeklySA_AdminASSET: However, the SIU did not seek a preservation order to seize Alfred Nevhutanda’s mansion as it had been sold in 2021 to an “innocent party”…
By Elmon Tshikhudo and Raymond Joseph
Alfred Nevhutanda, the former chair of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), used Lottery money to build a luxury holiday house in Limpopo, an investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found – but did not follow up with a seizure.
A decision was taken not to pursue the matter and seek a preservation order to freeze and dispose of it, as it was sold in 2021 to an “innocent party”.
This was confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the investigation, who told GroundUp: “Lottery funds were used. The house was sold back in 2021 to an innocent party, to someone called T Muavha”.
Although the area at Nandoni Dam, near Thohoyandou in the Vhembe district, is largely undeveloped, there are several large, luxury holiday homes belonging to wealthy Limpopo businesspeople.
Nevhutanda sold the house when an SIU investigation into lottery corruption was already underway. His scandal-ridden tenure as NLC chair ended in 2021, the same year that he sold the house.
The SIU decided not to pursue a preservation order, as the house no longer belonged to Nevhutanda, and the SIU was uncertain whether they would succeed in an application for a preservation order, GroundUp was told.
Nevhutanda did not respond to our questions.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom and millions more
This is not the first time that the SIU declined to seek a preservation order over an asset that Nevhutanda bought using lottery funds. GroundUp previously revealed how he used millions in siphoned lottery funds to purchase a R6.3-million Rolls-Royce Phantom, which he sold just three months later.
The Pretoria High Court issued a preservation order over the vehicle in 2023 after the Asset Forfeiture Unit revealed how almost R4.6-million of the car’s purchase price was linked to dodgy Lottery grants.
But the preservation order was lifted a few months later. This was because the NPA did not believe it would succeed if it pursued the forfeiture of the vehicle, which, like the Limpopo mansion, had been bought by an “innocent” third party.
Nevhutanda also was found to have used Lottery funds to purchase his lavish R27-million mansion in Pretoria and a R1-million unit inside an office park in Polokwane.
A property ostensibly bought for his church, the Higher Grace Christ Redeemer, was also funded with R2.2-million from Lottery money. The offer to purchase was signed in Nevhutanda’s name and not his church, the SIU told Parliament.
Earlier this year, the SIU presented findings on corruption at the National Lotteries Commission to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, revealing that it had referred 19 separate matters to the National Prosecuting Authority, but only one of these had made it to court.
Out of 19 separate matters involving Lottery corruption that have been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), only one is currently before a court, with no progress in getting the rest before the courts, Parliament was told on Tuesday.
Some of the charges, which include fraud, corruption and money laundering, date back to early 2022. This is according to two reports presented to MPs serving on Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).
Among those named and referred to the NPA for prosecution are several former NLC executives and board members, who oversaw the NLC at a time when it was overwhelmed by corruption.
The list of names, headed “Key players in the lottery corruption”, is broken into two: “internal players” and “external players”, consisting of people the SIU has previously described as “kingpins”, and family and business associates.
The SIU identified four NLC executives and board members as key players in the looting. The SIU provided SCOPA with detailed information on Lottery corruption in which they were involved. These included Nevhutanda and former NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba, who was added in a Special Tribunal judgment that froze R25-million in assets acquired using plundered lottery funds.
At the time, the SIU explained before Scopa how they were currently investigating R2-billion in fraud and corruption, saying this amount could increase substantially as the unit was continually receiving new information about further Lottery corruption, which would have to be investigated.
So far, the Special Tribunal and the Asset Forfeiture Unit have successfully frozen properties, vehicles and pensions worth almost R122-million.
By May, the SIU had completed two phases of its investigation, with phase one involving R280-million and R247-million in phase two. It has also delivered its first report on its findings to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Phase three, which is expected to be completed by December 31, so far involves R905-million. With new tip-offs coming in and investigations yet to begin, the SIU says that this will exceed the R2-billion “value of contracts under investigation with potential civil litigation” it previously estimated.
The SIU also referred Huma (an advocate), Ramulifho (an attorney who has been implicated in lottery corruption), and suspended NLC legal head Gugulethu Yako to the Legal Practice Council (LPC).
The SIU had also referred seven people and 14 companies to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), asking for them to be placed on a delinquency list and be barred from registering companies in the future. – GroundUp
