National Lotteries Commission COO Phillemon Letwaba is suspected of involvement in a corruption scheme that brought him at least R1.85 million. This was revealed in a written reply by Commissioner Thabang Mampane to a parliamentary question posed by Mat Cuthbert, the Democratic Alliance’s shadow trade, industry and competition minister. 

Since Letwaba was put on leave after the case was investigated, his salary income for the 2018-2019 financial year was R2 364 000. In total, the company’s expenses on keeping him amounted to R3 372 000. This included a donation of R393 000 to the provident fund, a R120 000 travel allowance, a R48 000 cellphone allowance and a R447 000 performance bonus. By comparison, the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa earned R3.9 million in 2019.

Letwaba was put on leave after NLC commissioned an investigation of the case on corruption and abuse of power in lottery operations to Sekela Xabiso. The investigation has been going on for more than eight months and NLC representatives have so far refused to give any comments on this matter.

Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel has instructed investigators to conduct their own investigation of four projects related to Lottopreneur lawyer Lesley Ramulifho and to Letwaba and his family and associates. After a while, it became clear that there was a fraudulent scheme with a turnover of R27.5 million allegedly aimed at building a drug rehab near Pretoria.

Representatives of watchdog Non-Profit The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) have accused Letwaba of some of the fraud and racketeering related to Lottery grants. Stephanie Fick, head of OUTA’s accountability division, listed several Lottery grants involving Letwaba, which she says breach the South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA’s) professional code of conduct.

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