How lottery looters hijacked GBV organisation and stole R3m

Millions of rands from a lottery grant intended for a rural cycling project were paid to Athletics South Africa (ASA) in 2018.

- Raymond Joseph

GroundUp

The R3 million payment came from a non-profit working with victims of gender-based violence, Make Me Movement (MMM), which was hijacked by lottery looters and used to apply for an R18 million grant for "cycling development in rural areas".

But the cycling project never took place and ASA has no knowledge of the R3 million funds. Cycling SA, the national body which oversees the sport, says "cycling development falls outside of ASA's area of responsibility and expertise". Sifiso Cele, spokesperson for ASA, said the first time the body became aware of the R3 million payment was last week when GroundUp sent a query about it.

"ASA would rather not comment at this stage to create room to look at this internally," he said.