Mystery over Lotto funding
PUZZLE: LIMPOPO GROUP GETS MULTI-MILLION CONTRACT FOR OLD-AGE HOME IN MPUMALANGA
More than two years after the grant was approved, the project is still not finished.
Anonprofit organisation in Limpopo that had failed to meet its statutory reporting obligations for at least five years was awarded at least R20 million by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) to build an old-age home – in Mpumalanga.
And more than two years after the NLC approved the grant for the home, the project is still not finished.
It has been plagued by long delays, complaints of slow payments to small local contractors and persistent shortages of building material. The old-age home in Marapyane is one of six funded by the NLC for at least R20 million each in rural areas around South Africa.
Marapyane is also the home village of NLC chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba. Many of his family still live there and Letwaba has built himself a luxury home in the village, just a kilometre away from the unfinished old-age home.
The NPO that received the grant for the Marapyane home is Matieni Community Centre which, according to department of social development records, is based in a remote village in the Thohoyandou district in Limpopo.
Matieni was first registered with the department as an NPO in 2002. An online directory gives its address as “Itsani Village, Matieni area, next to old dairy 15km west of Thohoyandou”.
But how Matieni was chosen for the project is unclear. Initial funding of R20 million for the construction of the six homes was approved by the NLC board on October 16, 2017.
Matieni has failed to submit financial reports and other documents it is legally required to file in terms of the NPO Act for at least seven years, according to the department of social development’s records. In response to an e-mailed query, the department said annual reporting going back to 2012 was “outstanding”. It listed the 2019 report as “expected”.
Organisations that receive as much Lottery funding as Matieni must provide the NLC with two years of audited financial statements. The NLC has said in the past that the law does not require it to check on whether or not an NPO has filed returns with the department of social development.
It appears that often the NLC merely checks that an NPO is registered with the department.
In its constitution lodged with social development, Matieni said one of its main objectives was “to improve the quality of life in Itsani village by improving conditions through better access to social services”. All its other stated objectives – including job creation and developing community projects – are focused on Itsani village.
Why the NLC would give funds for an old-age home in Mpumalanga to a noncompliant Limpopo-based NPO with no record of involvement in large construction projects is a mystery.
NLC spokesperson Ndivhuho Mafela failed to respond to questions about how Matieni was chosen for the Marapyane project.
Despite suggesting that GroundUp speak to the “beneficiary of the grant”, the NLC’s Mafela refused to supply contact details for Matieni. “Just for clarity, the NLC has on numerous occasions indicated that we cannot give the details of the beneficiary without their consent,” he said.
GroundUp tried to contact members of the Matieni board using phone numbers it supplied when it was first registered with social development. One of the numbers was answered – by a woman who said she was not involved with Matieni and was not aware of the organisation.
Contacted by phone, Daphne Mathobo, who is listed as “co-ordinator” of Matieni, asked for questions about the Marapyane old-age home to be sent to her via WhatsApp. This was done, but she failed to respond.
Among the questions she was asked was whether Matieni was still active and if it had submitted a proposal for the old-age home, or whether it was “chosen” by the NLC for the project. She also failed to say why Marapyane was chosen as the site for the home, how much money Matieni had received and how much of the grant is still left. Construction of the Marapyane home has progressed at a snail’s pace and some small building contractors say they have battled to be paid relatively small amounts.
The old-age home consists of two identical buildings that will accommodate 35 men and 35 women once complete. But there was no building or any other activity happening on the locked up and fenced-in property when GroundUp visited Marapyane last month.
In response to a question about why Marapyane was chosen as the site of the old-age home and whether Letwaba’s links to the village might be perceived as a conflict of interest, Mafela responded: “The selection of implementing agents and areas of implementation are directed by research conducted in terms of
The municipality intervened when people complained
the Lotteries Act. The NLC had multi stakeholder consultations which included traditional leaders, Dr JS Moroka Municipality and various others. The municipality through the office of the mayor recommended Marapyane as the central location within the Dr JS Moroka Municipality. This was due to the municipality’s commitment to support the project’s sustainability beyond construction.”
This was contradicted by Marapyane councillor John Ngodi, who claimed the NLC had not consulted the municipality or the area’s traditional leadership before embarking on the project.
“The municipality intervened after a few months (after construction had begun) when people complained about not being paid,” he said. – GroundUpNews