A property in Pretoria bought by Oscar-winning actor\u00a0Presley Chweneyagae, using funds from a lottery grant, has been frozen by the Special Tribunal.<\/p>\n
The money came from a R15 million grant to the Presley Chweneyagae Foundation via the Southern African Youth Movement (SAYM).<\/p>\n
Read: Special Tribunal freezes luxury home of lottery \u2018kingpin\u2019<\/p>\n
The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) grant was intended to fund an anti-drug themed musical, Taking Back the Future. It was meant to tour three provinces, but it\u00a0only ran for five nights\u00a0at a small venue in the Free State.<\/p>\n
SAYM received\u00a0over R67.5 million\u00a0for lottery-funded projects.<\/p>\n
Both SAYM and Alfred Sigudla, its executive director, have featured prominently in a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe\u00a0into corruption\u00a0involving lottery grant funding. The SAYM grants were also supposed to build an\u00a0old-age home and a\u00a0drug rehabilitation centre. Neither are operational.<\/p>\n
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Read:
Terry Pheto\u2019s house, built with lottery money, finally sold [Mar 2023]
Youth organisation scored big time from Lottery amendment for which it lobbied [Jan 2023]
Luxury properties seized in new lottery crackdown [Aug 2024]<\/p>\n
The\u00a0preservation order, handed down by Judge Margaret Victor on 18 December, is directed at Chweneyagae\u2019s wife, Charlaine, the executor of her husband\u2019s estate, as well as several other individuals and entities.<\/p>\n
Chweneyagae, who won an Oscar for his role in the movie Tsotsi, died aged 40 in May from respiratory problems.<\/p>\n
His Tsotsi co-star, Terry Pheto, also benefitted from a dodgy lottery grant, which she used to buy a house in Bryanston. The house was frozen by the tribunal and subsequently\u00a0sold for R3.9 million.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/siu_graphic.png\")
<\/p>\nGraphic presented by the SIU to Parliament in 2024. Source: GroundUp<\/p>\n
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A 2024 SIU\u00a0graphic, presented to parliament, shows how the money meant for Chweneyagae\u2019s musical flowed to some of the people and entities named in last week\u2019s order. At the time, the SIU told MPs (members of parliament) that it had uncovered a \u201ccriminal syndicate\u201d operating inside the NLC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe order prohibits any sale, transfer, lease, encumbrance, or disposal of the home in Pretoria, Gauteng, pending the finalisation of civil proceedings to be instituted by the SIU within 60 court days,\u201d said SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.<\/p>\n
Read:
NPA missing in action on lottery corruption
Former lottery chair challenges Ramaphosa\u2019s investigation<\/p>\n
Among those named in the order are:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Domestic Baboon (Pty) Ltd, a company of which Chweneyagae was the sole director, which allegedly bought the Pretoria property for R889 000;<\/li>\n
- Alfred Sigudla, whose home\u00a0was frozen by the tribunal earlier this year;<\/li>\n
- Former NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba,\u00a0who resigned under a cloud in 2022;<\/li>\n
- Ironbridge Travel and Events, a company in which Letwaba\u2019s wife, Rebotile Malomane, was the sole director;<\/li>\n
- Karabo Sithole, Letwaba\u2019s cousin, who was involved in several dodgy lottery projects, like a dodgy stadium\u00a0in Limpopo; and<\/li>\n
- Meshack Makhubela, the sole director of VNMM Consulting Engineers and son-in-law of the former, scandal-ridden\u00a0NLC chair Alfred Nevhutanda.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a9 2025 GroundUp. This article was first published\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
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