\n
\n
\u00a9 2025 GroundUp. This article was first published\u00a0here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) staff members whose lives were upended after they blew the whistle on corruption in the organisation have been denied financial compensation.<\/p>\n
After participating in a year-long reparations process, they were instead offered a combination of psychological support sessions, \u201cwellness\u201d services, educational sponsorships and, in some cases, grocery vouchers.<\/p>\n
Read: Former lottery chair challenges Ramaphosa\u2019s investigation<\/p>\n
Whistleblowers who were not staff members, some of whom faced death threats, arson attacks and expensive litigation, were only informed at the end of the year-long process what criteria the NLC board had approved for reparations, and that they did not meet them.<\/p>\n
\nThey learned this earlier this month, during a brief virtual meeting with a lawyer representing the NLC. It was later confirmed through emailed rejection letters signed by NLC board chairman Barney Pityana.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Redress for non-staff whistleblowers will be \u201cadministered through the NLC\u2019s ordinary operational and funding mechanisms,\u201d NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz said. In effect, they were invited to apply for funding for projects that had collapsed because of their whistleblowing.<\/p>\n
A total of 18 people (comprising current and former staff and non-staff whistleblowers) participated in the process, and one settlement has been concluded, according to Scholtz.<\/p>\n
She said no funds were allocated for compensation, whether directly or indirectly as the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and National Treasury rules prohibit unauthorised expenditure, the creation of contingent or unfunded liabilities, and \u201cfinancial commitments not grounded in statute, contract, or court order\u201d.<\/p>\n
Read:
Three candidates recommended to chair lottery commission
Pityana resigns as board chair of National Lotteries Commission
Tau appoints ten new lottery grant assessors after year-long delay<\/p>\nAsked why it had taken a year before non-staff whistleblowers were informed that they were ineligible for reparation, Scholtz said: \u201cThe timeframe reflects the complexity of designing a first-of-its-kind reparative process within the public sector.<\/p>\n
\n\nADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cPremature determinations would have risked procedural unfairness and legal vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NLC, she said, was required to ensure constitutional alignment, PFMA compliance, independent verification of claims, and the development of lawful parallel mechanisms to address community harm.<\/p>\n
Cold charity<\/span><\/h2>\n
Several former NLC staff and non-staff whistleblowers have now joined forces to fight the NLC\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject with the contempt it deserves the degrading offer communicated to each of us by attorneys appointed by the NLC,\u201d they said in a statement issued on their behalf by John Clarke, a social worker.<\/p>\n
Those involved have chosen not to be named \u201cat this stage\u201d, citing non-disclosure agreements they had signed when applying for reparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe state categorically that, throughout the Reparations Measures Process, we were led to believe that meaningful financial compensation<\/em> [their emphasis] would form part of the reparations package,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was essential to restoring livelihoods destroyed as a direct consequence of our whistleblowing against systemic corruption at the NLC. Instead, we were offered cold charity, made worse by the fact that expectations had been deliberately raised over an extended period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than compensating them financially for what they endured, \u201cthe NLC has instead offered pitiful grocery vouchers, limited educational assistance for ourselves and\/or our children, access to a health and wellness programme and other token measures\u201d.<\/p>\n
Restoration over compensation<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u201cSome individuals were really affected very negatively by this \u2026 This is really painful,\u201d Scholtz said in an interview last year. \u201cI met a couple of these individuals. It was just so heart-wrenching that their whole lives have been turned upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIn a recent statement, Scholtz announced that the reparations process, which she described as \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d, had been concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The NLC had prioritised \u201crestoration over compensation, healing over financial settlement, and fairness, dignity and responsible stewardship of public funds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\nADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Responding to questions from GroundUp, Scholtz said the NLC\u2019s approach was \u201cgrounded in legal prudence and governance obligations.<\/p>\n
She said a formal apology by an organ of state could \u201creasonably be construed\u201d as an admission of guilt or negligence, an acceptance of harm suffered and \u201ca potential foundation for civil claims for damages\u201d, with \u201cfar-reaching legal consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Reparative Measures Programme was not intended, and must not be misconstrued, as a substitute for statutory remedies, labour processes, civil litigation, or court-ordered compensation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny individualised measures offered are non-financial, confidential, and without admission of liability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to questions, Kaamil Allie, spokesperson for Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, said: \u201cWhere a court issues a binding order, the NLC will comply lawfully and with Treasury approval, but it cannot voluntarily pay damages outside legal authority. The NLC has made a clear distinction between reparations and damages.\u201d<\/p>\n
R10 budget<\/span><\/h2>\n
Responding to a written parliamentary question in April this year, Tau said that R20 million had been ring-fenced \u201cfor individual reparative measures\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, however, only R10 million was budgeted as \u201creparations\u201d in the NLC 2024\/25 annual performance plan.<\/p>\n
But responding to follow-up questions from GroundUp, Scholtz said the NLC was \u201cnot proposing to pay any monetary amount, monetary equivalent, compensation, damages, or ex gratia payments to any individual under the Reparative Measures Programme\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny figures previously referenced publicly\u201d, including those in the 2024\/25 performance plan, \u201cwere programme-level indicative allocations intended solely to enable the lawful design, administration, and governance of the initiative\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were never earmarked, ring-fenced, or approved for individual payouts, compensation or damages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\nADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Scholtz said the actual expenditure related \u201csolely to programme implementation costs and will be disclosed once governance processes and external audits are finalised\u201d.<\/p>\n
The R10 million allocation \u201cconstituted an upper-limit administrative envelope\u201d and covered:<\/p>\n
\n
- The independent assessment and adjudication processes<\/li>\n
- Legal assurance and compliance oversight<\/li>\n
- Governance and ethics oversight<\/li>\n
- Psychological and wellness support services; and<\/li>\n
- Skills development and reintegration interventions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u2018About turn\u2019<\/span><\/h2>\n
DA MP Toby Chance, who has been fighting for the rights of lottery whistleblowers, said in a statement that he was \u201cdismayed\u201d by the NLC\u2019s \u201cabout turn on its commitment to pay reparations to whistleblowers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt great personal cost to themselves and their families, these whistleblowers revealed a systematic and sustained undermining of good governance standards by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nChance said it had led the Special Investigations Unit to identify up to R2 billion worth of illegal grants paid to non-profit organisations since 2013.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThese grants were facilitated by corrupt NLC employees whom the NLC defended in court at great expense, forcing the whistleblowers to spend their own money to defend themselves, often leading to their financial ruin and suffering severe mental stress, sickness and family breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
* Disclosure: Raymond Joseph and his wife were defamed by the NLC and its officials to try to stop his reporting on Lottery corruption. He applied for reparation, but only asked for an apology and specified that he was not seeking financial compensation.<\/em><\/p>\n
In its response to the application, the NLC thanked Joseph for the role he played in exposing lottery corruption.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\u00a9 2025 GroundUp. This article was first published\u00a0here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n