Former chairman of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) Alfred Nevhutanda is challenging the proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa giving the Special Investigating Unit the go-head to investigate the commission's affairs. The investigation led to the freezing of a R27-million Pretoria mansion owned by Nevhutanda. Nevhutanda claims that the proclamation, signed in October 2020, is unlawful because the NLC is not an organ of state and does not deal with public money, which are prerequisites under the SIU Act. He also believes that the proclamation is too broad, giving the SIU the power to "go on a fishing expedition, permitting it to turn over any stone to its heart's content."
The first step in the application, filed in April this year, was for the President to file the written record of the decision. Nevhutanda is expected to file a further affidavit before the President and government respondents file their papers. He describes himself as the Chairperson of the Higher Grace Christ Redeemer Church and served as chairperson of the Lotteries Board between December 2009 and November 2020.
Nevhutanda claims that the property should never have been frozen because the order was issued following the SIU investigation on a proclamation which "cannot pass muster". He says that the affairs of the NLC, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, and the distributing agencies do not fall within the definitions in the Act, because they are not state institutions, do not receive or expend public money, and do not control state assets.
Nevhutanda said the allegations of "maladministration" came through news reports during his tenure and referred to "pro-active funding" as opposed to applications for funding. He said the SIU investigators seemed to be "dwelling under the mistaken belief" that the NLC held ownership of the money held in trust and that the NLC allocated grant funding. In fact, the NLC had no control over the affairs of the trust and was not involved in the process of allocating grant funding.
Nevhutanda said that because of the invasive nature of SIU investigations, proclamations needed to give "exact instructions" to the SIU to stop rights infringements and prevent "limitless expeditions." The proclamation cast a wide net, including any and all people associated with the affairs of the NLC, in all matters of the investment of funds in the trust, and the allocation of grant funding over a period of at least six years and 10 months.
