The DA welcomes the announcement that National Lotteries Commissioner (NLC), Thabang Mampane, has resigned effective from 15 August 2022.
However, this comes too late. We have been calling on the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, to fire her for the past 3 years.
There is no doubt that her 10 years at the helm of the organisation have been characterised by allegations of corruption and maladministration – at the expense of the marginalised.
It was recently revealed by publication GroundUp that she used money meant for the rebuilding of a school gutted by fire, to purchase a luxury home worth R3.6 million in a golf estate near Hartebeespoort Dam.
It is alleged that the house was registered in a trust of which Mampane and her family were beneficiaries.
The DA called on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to obtain a preservation order against her from the Special Tribunal (ST) and for the board to place her on suspension.
We sincerely hope that both the SIU and ST will finalise this matter shortly.
The DA has consistently fought in the corner of the vulnerable, the sick and marginalised who have been swindled out of duly deserved funding by the NLC.
We will not rest until each of those individuals responsible for the industrial-scale looting at the NLC are put behind bars.