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Lotteries Commission serves COO Phillemon Letwaba with notice of intention to suspend him – for the third time

Details

NLCGroundUp reports that the new board of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has served chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba with notice of intention to suspend him.

The notice, delivered last week, comes after an earlier internal inquiry cleared Letwaba of money laundering and abusing his position to enrich himself and his family. Letwaba is expected to be suspended as early as this week. He was informed that he would face the same four charges on which he was previously cleared, but new charges might be added. Apparently, the new board had asked NLC Commissioner Thabang Mampana to suspend Letwaba, but she did not comply with its instructions. That led the board taking the matter into its own hands. This will be the third time that Letwaba has been suspended. In March 2020, he was forced to take a leave of absence on full pay. He returned to work around July 2021, having earned over R3-million during his 17-month absence. In October 2021, less than three months later, he was again suspended on full pay. He returned to work in March 2022, having earned close to R1.5-million during this absence. Now, just four months later, he has been sent another letter of intention to suspend him. At the first disciplinary inquiry, Letwaba was accused of conflict of interest and using front companies to funnel money from non-profit companies that received Lottery grants. Charges against him also included contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, as well as sections of the Lotteries Act and the Public Finance Management Act. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Raymond Joseph at GroundUp


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