The Party says it has decided to take this course of action because the NLC and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel have denied multiple requests for this information to be made public.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will submit an application in terms of the Public Access to Information Act (PAIA) for the release of 3 critical documents relating to alleged corruption at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), namely:
- The list of 2018-2019 NLC proactive-funding beneficiaries,
- 2019-2020 proactive-funding beneficiaries and
- the 2020 Covid-19 Relief Fund beneficiaries.
According to DA’s Shadow Minister of Trade Industry and Economic Development, Mat Cuthbert, the Party has decided to take this course of action because the NLC and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel have denied multiple requests for this information to be made public.
Cuthbert said the Conduct of Patel and the NLC is unthinkable considering the alleged pervasive corruption at the entity.
Their efforts in undermining democratic accountability and transparency have been supplemented by ANC members of the portfolio committee on Trade, Industry and Competition who at every turn have tried to prevent the release of this information.
In May the NLC, replying to a portfolio committee question about NGO’s that have received funds from the NLC, listed total numbers of the NGO’s which they funded without revealing the names.
Their latest attempt in this regard has been to hide behind a request for a legal opinion from the Parliamentary Legal Advisor in order to stall the appearance of the NLC before the portfolio committee and the release of NLC beneficiaries.
According to Cuthbert, there is no need for a legal opinion as prior to the 2018-2019 financial year all beneficiaries of NLC proactive-funding were made public and Section 67 of the National Lotteries Act does not prevent them from making this information public.