SA LOTTERY FACES R10m LAWSUIT
Ex-employee refused to okay funds for Buyel’Ekhaya festival
The National Lottery Commission (NLC) has been slapped with a R10m claim for damages by a former employee who claims he was “unfairly” dismissed after he refused to approve funding for the Buyel’Ekhaya Annual Music Festival in 2017.
Mzukisi Makatse, a former NLC Eastern Cape grant agreement officer, served the commission with a summons seeking damages for breach of contract, part loss of earnings and future loss of earnings.
In documents filed in the East London high court, Makatse’s lawyers claim that in August 2017 he received an instruction to approve R6m funding for the festival and he refused because the correct procedures had not been followed.
He was then suspended pending an investigation and possible disciplinary hearing. His employment contract was terminated in February and he referred the dismissal to the CCMA.
Makatse now wants the high court to declare his dismissal unlawful and order the NLC to pay R10m damages as well as cover his legal costs.
NLC head of stakeholder relations, marketing and communication, Ndivhuho Mafela refused to comment, saying the matter was sub judice.
In the summons, Makatse’s lawyers argue the NLC’s actions were unlawful.
“Further, the defendant’s breach of contract in unlawfully terminating the plaintiff’s employment contract without a hearing amounts to repudiation of the said employment contract.
“Accordingly, the plaintiff accepts this repudiation given the long, sustained and health debilitating persecution he suffered at the hands of the defendant because he refused to approve an irregular payment of over R6m worth of public funds,” part of the summons read.
The lawyers claim Makatse suffered emotional stress and psychological trauma as a result of the embarrassment and financial hardship he endured after being axed following his refusal to grant the 2017 Buyel’Ekhaya Annual Music Festival funding via a deviation called “pro-active funding”.
Pro-active funding is supposed to be initiated by the minister, the board or the commissioner and research has to be conducted and presented to the board before the beneficiary can be granted the funds.
Mafela failed to respond to specific questions on whether these requirements had been followed before funding the festival.
Last month Makatse wrote to the chair of parliament’s trade and industry portfolio committee, Joan Fubbs, alerting her to “corruption” in the NLC.
Last week the committee asked trade & industry minister Rob Davies to look into the proactive funding model. It requested the minister to probe allegations made by NLC chair Professor Alfred Nevhutanda that the commission’s computer system had been hacked.
In an interview with the Dispatch, Fubbs said the committee had requested the minister to check on all the allegations surrounding the NLC.
“Pro-active funding was created to be used effectively, not to be abused. I am not aware of this [Buyel’Ekhaya] music festival incident. I’ve asked staff to look into it. I am also not aware of the court case but in that respect I will ask the director general about it and we will send a letter to the prof [Nevhutanda] on the matter,” Fubbs said.
She said the committee was awaiting written responses from the NLC on the allegations it made when Nevhutanda appeared before the committee.
Commenting on the parliamentary request, Mafela said: “The purpose of the National Lotteries Commission appearance before the portfolio committee on Tuesday, 27 November was to present its second quarter report. Any suggestions made by parliamentarians to the minister will be addressed by the minister himself.”
Last month Makatse wrote to parliament’s Joan Fubbs alerting her to ‘corruption’ in the NLC