Lotteries Commissioner doesn't want to tell Parliament who scored a Covid-19 tender
9 June 2021
In response to parliamentary questions posed by the DA, the Commissioner at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), Thabang Mampane, has chosen to hide behind Regulation 8 of the Lotteries Act in order to avoid telling Parliament who scored a Covid-19 tender (See attached).
The tender issued by the NLC was for a service provider to conduct research on the social, economic and operational impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on funded organisations.
According to the NLC, the tender’s value was set at R460 287.50, not an insubstantial amount of taxpayer money to spend on an exercise in vanity (See attached).
In essence, the services required were to inform the NLC as to how they go about spending the R150 Million they had allocated to their Covid-19 Relief meant for distressed organisations.
The NLC last appeared before the portfolio committee on trade, industry and competition in September 2020 and informed us that only R32 million of the R150 million had been disbursed to beneficiaries.
It is clear that whoever the service provider was, they did not assist the NLC in allocating much-needed funding to organisations who were already in severe distress.
It is clear that the NLC and by extension its commissioner, have not learnt from their attempts to conceal grant beneficiaries in 2020, when Parliament’s legal advisor found their use of regulation 8 to defend their actions was in fact unconstitutional.
Therefore, the DA will be submitting a PAIA application to the NLC to obtain this information as we firmly believe that is in the public interest.
Issued by Mat Cuthbert, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, 9 June 2021
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The NLC has now submitted the following response to this statement:
STATEMENT BY THE NLC IN RESPONSE TO A STATEMENT BY THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE
On 9 June 2021, the DA published a statement, “Lotteries Commissioner doesn’t want to tell Parliament who scored a Covid-19 tender,” written by Mr Mat Cuthbert, MP. It emanated from a Parliamentary Question posed to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition. It was republished by Politicsweb without interrogating the facts.
The NLC places on record that contrary to what is alleged by Mr Cuthbert, the Commissioner provided a report relating to the tender referred to in the DA statement to Parliament wherein the service provider’s details were disclosed. It was done so in terms of a confidential disclosure in accordance with the relevant confidentiality provisions. Therefore, the title and the contents of the statement are misleading and untrue.
The NLC further places on record that it has derived a benefit from the tender. Money was appropriately spent and the NLC received services commensurate with the expenditure in relation thereto in that the scope of work was executed. In addition, money allocated for Covid-19 relief has been disbursed to qualifying beneficiaries in accordance with the objectives of the relief fund.
The NLC is of the view that the statement by the DA and Mr Cuthbert was intended for a mischievous purpose. It constitutes a gross distortion of facts and a repeated, yet failed, attempt to tarnish the image of the NLC and the Commissioner. The suggestion that the NLC and its Commissioner refuse to account to Parliament is rejected. They have not in any way attempted to conceal information from Parliament. They are bound by legal prescripts to account fully to Parliament and will continue to do so in line with the prescripts of accountability and transparency.
Yours Faithfully,
Ms. TCC Mampane
Commissioner: National Lotteries Commission
