Buyel’Ekhaya R6m fishy lotto jackpot

A LOTTO dissenter who refused to approve a funding application for Buyel’Ekhaya Music Festival and an unknown charity organisation was suspended from his job.

National Lotteries Commission (NLC) employee Mzukisi Makatse, who says he exposed the alleged fronting in a Buyel’Ekhaya Music Festival funding application, claims he was given the boot after he called for action to be taken.

He was suspended by NLC commissioner Thabang Mampane a day after he reported his concerns to his provincial manager in the Eastern Cape.

Makatse said he was suspended for “asking all the right questions” about the non-profit organisation (NPO) Thato Community Crisis Centre’s application, which stated that the R6-million Thato wanted from Lotto would be paid over to the Buyel’Ekhaya festival.

Thato is an organisation that purports to support thousands of vulnerable children and adults.

Makatse said that on August 3 last year, he was tasked by NLC provincial head, Sarah Hugow and Elsabe Marais to authorise the approval of a payment for a project involving the Buyel’Ekhaya festival, held annually in the Eastern Cape.

Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch, Makatse said all the funding applications and processing for the event were done in Gauteng, which jarred.

“The grant agreement, allocation letter and quality control was all done in Gauteng, not in the Eastern Cape as it was supposed to,” he said.

“Payment is the end of the process after all those other steps were done.

“There was no way I would agree to approving payment for a project done by someone else in Gauteng, instead of the Eastern Cape.”

He felt he was being forced to approve an illegal payment.

“I declined to give such an illegal approval but I learned that my refusal didn’t go well with some of my colleagues including those in our head office,” he said.

The next day, August 4, Mampane sent him a notice of precautionary suspension.

The Saturday Dispatch has seen the letter, which accused him of “gross insubordination in that you acted in flagrant disregard of the authority of your employer by defying the lawful instructions of your superiors . . . You refused to carry out the instruction to process payment approval on a proactive funding project, Buyel’Ekhaya Annual Music Festival.”

On August 7, Makatse said he was suspended on what he felt were spurious reasons. “I have no doubt that one of the real reasons for my suspension is my refusal to approve payment I considered irregular. The Buyel’Ekhaya application was fronting,” said Makatse.

His has taken the NLC to the CCMA in East London.

The NLC confirmed that he is on suspension.

“For the record, we can confirm that he is on suspension with full pay and benefits. However, we have reliably learnt that he is a practising attorney, registered with the Cape Law Society and he has been appearing in court attending to matters.

“This is in violation of his employment contract with the National Lotteries Commission and the Ethics and Conduct Policy of the NLC.

“Furthermore, we have reliably learnt that he in fact writes for your publication as well.

“We view this in a serious light and as an act of theft from the Commission as it is illegal for NLC employees to take up double employment.”

Makatse said the NLC knew he had opened up his law firm after his suspension, and had no intentions of going back to Lotto. —