Southern African Youth Movement scored big from Lottery amendment for which it lobbied

A non-profit organisation that lobbied for amendments to the Lotteries Act went on to benefit to the tune of tens of millions of rands in grants after the law was changed.

The Southern African Youth Movement (SAYM) recommended the introduction of a new way of funding projects by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) to the Trade, Industry and Competition Parliamentary Committee. Instead of the NLC waiting for applications, SAYM proposed the introduction of proactive funding, which enables the NLC to award a grant without first receiving an application.

Proactive funding, which has been at the heart of the looting of the Lottery, has been suspended by the NLC’s new board.

SAYM executive director Alfred Sigudhla and Sello Pietersen, who was then the organisation’s Assistant Programme Manager, gave evidence to Parliament in 2013 in support of amendments to the Lotteries Act, including the introduction of proactive funding.

In the years that followed, SAYM was to receive over R67.5-million in proactive funding for several projects, including an old age home, a drug rehabilitation centre, and an anti-drug-themed musical, which was funded to do a three-province tour. Neither the old age home nor the rehab are operational, and the musical staged only a handful of performances.

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SAYM’s grants are all recorded in NLC annual reports under several different variations of the organisation’s name. All have one thing in common: the involvement of Sigudhla, according to both company and Department of Social Development records. Sigudhla has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the NLC.

In 2014 the board of the National Lotteries Board, the predecessor to the NLC, decided to stop funding SAYM because of irregularities with its funding applications. But the bar on funding was lifted after the personal intervention of former NLC commissioner Thabang Mampane and former board chairperson, Alfred Nevhutanda. Both are now under investigation for the abuse of Lottery funds.

Former NLC chief risk officer Bathabile Kapumha has told how she was pressured to withdraw SAYM from the list of organisations the NLC should not fund. Attorney Trevor Bailey, who was commissioned by the then-NLC board to investigate Kaphumha’s suspension, said in his 2015 report that she had told him how she had been summoned to meetings with Mampane and Nevhutanda, some of which were also attended by representatives of the SAYM.

During one meeting, Kapumha told Bailey that a SAYM representative had said the organisation had supported the NLC over changes to legislation and therefore should not be prejudiced because of irregularities with its funding applications. A source told GroundUp that the SAYM representative was Sigudhla, but Sigudhla did not respond to questions asking him if he attended this meeting.

Nevhutanda instructed Kapumha to remove the SAYM from the list of organisations that the Board had decided not to fund or to discontinue funding, which she did, Bailey reported.

Kapumha quit the NLC in fear of her life soon after she was involved in an accident, apparently caused by malfunctioning of her car’s brakes and steering.

When GroundUp sent questions to Sigudhla about the R67.5-million grants, he did not respond.

Instead, Dr Lekgotla Mafisa, chair of SAYM’s board, responded, copying in Sigudhla. He said he had been “mandated” to respond to GroundUp. “The board took the decision to respond to the questions as decisions on projects are approved by the board and not management”.

“The board is happy with all projects undertaken under the leadership of the executive director unless persuaded by anybody.”

Millions annually

• R27.5-million for an old age home in Thaba Nchu, near Bloemfontein in the Free State between 2017 and 2020. SAYM says construction of the home is complete and it has been licensed by the DSD and will become operational in 2023. SAYM claimed it was unable to provide a copy of the licence to operate as this document would only be obtained at the “handover” of the facility. But the Free State DSD said it already had an old age home in the area where the SAYM old age home is situated. When the department “was eventually consulted” in 2022, it had “advised that the old age home be repurposed to a substance abuse halfway house”, according to Lindiwe Mnguni of the Free State DSD.


• Almost R27-million for a drug rehabilitation centre in Nelspruit, between 2017 and 2021. When GroundUp visited the site early in November, construction was still underway on a Lottery-funded indoor sports centre on the edge of the rehab property. Late last year, neighbours close to the property told GroundUp that work on the site was still continuing;


• R15-million to stage an anti-drug musical, which was co-written and directed by Tsotsi star Presley Chweneyagae. But the production never undertook the major three-province tour that was promised.


• R144,000 for a research project in 2011/2012 that investigated the funding of non-profits in South Africa.

Life in the fast lane

Evidence in Parliament