Totalitarian talk shop:  DA requests Auditor-General to investigate R40m Lotto grant

Following the disclosure that the National Lottery allocated an amount of R40 million to the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) for the hosting of the extremist youth gathering currently being held in Pretoria, the DA will be writing to the Auditor-General to request a special investigation into this particular allocation.

Section 5(1) of the Public Audit Act makes provision for the Auditor-General to carry out "an appropriate investigation or special audit" of any public institution when he considers this to be "in the public interest or upon the receipt of a complaint or request".

The DA will not stand idly by while such an enormous allocation of public funds is being squandered; indeed, had it not been for the question posed by the DA to the Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, during this year's adjustment appropriation vote in Parliament, the multimillion rand allocation of funding towards this totalitarian talk shop would have gone undetected in the first place, and we have every intention of ensuring that the Lotteries Board's allocation is subjected to similarly close scrutiny.

The Public Audit Act requires funds to be allocated between institutions "fairly and equitably". Whether it is "fair and equitable" for the Lotto to allocate an amount greater than the entire annual budget for the Cotlands orphanage to a nine-day bash for a fat-cat elite, is a question which we would like the Auditor-General to interrogate.

Lottery funds are distributed to contribute to projects of national importance, which either contribute to our national heritage or advance social development. We would like the Auditor-General to interrogate the Lotteries Board about the extent to which it applied its collective mind to the benefits this project would bring to South Africa, relative to the benefits that other funding requests would bring. 

The DA believes that this allocation is a national embarrassment. It contradicts everything that lottery grants are meant to stand for and it is a slap in the face for all the organisations who work on a pittance to improve conditions for the poorest members of our society.

Statement issued by Athol Trollip MP, Democratic Alliance Parliamentary Leader, December 15 2010

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