Staff Reporter
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been granted a preservation order to block a pension payment of R500 000 due to former KwaZulu-Natal National Lotteries Commission (NLC) official Sibonelo Vilakazi.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the order followed an SIU investigation that found Vilakazi “exploited his position to enable his spouse, Nosipho Zanele Zuma, to receive 48 payments totalling R31.2 million from entities benefiting from NLC grants”.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Vanderbijlpark scholar transport driver charged with 14 murders, abandons bail application
The funds were funnelled through Zuma’s company, ZZET Enterprises, and used to purchase luxury vehicles and properties, including two Toyota Quantum’s, a Toyota Hilux, and two properties.
Kganyago said that a Financial Intelligence Centre report found that ZZET Enterprises received multiple electronic fund transfer payments from several care centres and football clubs of approximately R 32 259 707.
SIU investigations found that over 400 care centres and football clubs made payments to accounts linked to Vilakazi and Zuma, from money received from the NLC, between 2019 and 2023.
Vilakazi started working at the NLC in 2017 as a customer liaison officer in the grant funding division, according to GroundUp.
The SIU was in 2023 granted an order to freeze about R2.4 million linked to the same scheme.
In the same year, the NLC instituted disciplinary proceedings and found Vilakazi guilty on all charges, and dismissed him. Vilakazi tried unsuccessfully to appeal the dismissal, and consequently lodged a complaint with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
“The SIU will continue to pursue officials who resign or are dismissed in the face of an investigation by freezing their pension benefits and instituting civil litigation to recover financial losses suffered by State institutions,” Kganyago said.
INSIDE POLITICS