Athletics

South Africa: Athletics SA Boss Might Face Prosecution for Lottery Corruption

However lawyer for appearing CEO Terrence Magogodela says his shopper “expects to be a witness for the state”

  • Athletics South Africa boss Terrence Magogodela used Lottery grant cash to pay attorneys and switch prices for a home he purchased.
  • He stated it was a “mortgage” from IT firm boss Jabulani Sibanda.
  • However Magogodela repaid the cash to the Particular Investigating Unit (SIU), which is tasked with recouping funds misplaced to corruption.
  • But Magogodela might nonetheless face prison prices. The SIU has despatched a docket on the dodgy R15-million grant involving him and a number of other others to the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with a suggestion for prison prosecution.
  • However Magogdela’s lawyer says his shopper “has co-operated absolutely with the NPA and expects to be a witness for the state”.

A senior Athletics South Africa (ASA) govt, after repaying practically R400,000 he had used to pay for private bills from a dodgy multimillion-rand Lottery grant, might nonetheless face prosecution.

Terrence Magogodela, ASA’s appearing Chief Govt Officer, performed a key function in an allegedly corrupt R15-million lottery grant to Inqaba Yokulinda, a non-profit organisation (NPO), meant to supervise and handle a mission to construct an athletics observe in Kimberley.

Magogodela, ASA’s chief monetary officer on the time, was listed because the mission coordinator of Inqaba Yokulinda within the grant utility submitted to the Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC), though he was an official of ASA.

Inqaba Yokulinda paid R10-million of the R15-million grant to Unicus Solu(IT)ons (Pty) Ltd, owned by Jabu Sibanda, which was to be chargeable for growing the athletics observe.

However quite than use the cash for the observe, Sibanda spent hundreds of thousands on issues unrelated to the mission, together with settling private money owed.

A letter endorsing the mission, supposedly signed by ASA President Aleck Skhosana, was included within the Inqaba Yokulinda utility. However ASA spokesperson Sifiso Cele beforehand instructed GroundUp that Skhosana had refused to signal the letter endorsing the mission because the request “didn’t conform to our related insurance policies”.

Cash from the grant was additionally used to cowl authorized and switch duties on a home Magogodela purchased in an upmarket Centurion housing property.

Magogodela repaid virtually R400,000 to the Particular Investigating Unit (SIU), which on 25 April stated it might apply for a courtroom order to carry a Particular Tribunal preservation order over his home.

“Nevertheless, the settlement settlement doesn’t represent a full and ultimate settlement between the events,” the SIU stated. “SIU stays entitled to affix Mr Magogodela in any future continuing and declare acceptable reduction from him.”

The athletics observe was ultimately accomplished by Inqaba Yokulinda, who took over the administration of the mission after the NLC allotted a additional R4.27-million in 2019.

Magogodela’s R400,000 “mortgage”

Magogodela claimed the R400,000 was a “mortgage” from Unicus’s Jabu Sibanda, which he was repaying. He initially opposed the preservation order. In an affidavit, he denied that he “unduly benefited” or was concerned in any “irregular conduct”.

Nevertheless, he did subsequently enter into an settlement with the SIU to repay the cash. The SIU is tasked with recovering corrupt funds.

A complete doc setting out the SIU case in opposition to Magogodela was despatched anonymously to ASA. GroundUp was additionally despatched the doc by a supply whose identification is understood to us.

The doc examines the phrases of the “mortgage” from Sibanda through which Magogodela must pay curiosity at 9% each year from 1 March 2018 till it was repaid. Nevertheless, repayments would solely begin on 1 September 2018 with month-to-month instalments of R2,500. There was additionally a ten% “assortment fee” payable on each instalment.

“The AoD (admission of debt) and its cost phrases will not be, as Mr Magogodela and Mr Sibanda contend, customary arms’ size industrial phrases”, the doc factors out. “Ignoring the buildup of curiosity and assuming that the ten% “assortment fee” is paid individually, it might take Mr Magogodela till December 2031 to repay the capital alone.”

Magogodela initially didn’t honour the separate settlement settlement he had reached with the SIU to repay R388,733, which included authorized prices, curator prices, and “the quantity that he was unduly enriched of”, the SIU stated in its assertion.

The SIU then approached the Particular Tribunal for an utility, granted in February 2022, to freeze his Gauteng residence.

Magogodela’s lawyer, Dev Maharaj, denied that Magogodela had didn’t honour the settlement settlement with the SIU to repay the “mortgage” cash however had “merely requested extra time to boost the ultimate instalment”.

“There was certainly a reliable mortgage from Mr Sibanda however that mortgage to him was not repaid absolutely,” Maharaj stated. “Mr Magogodela felt that it was an ethical obligation on his half to repay the complete quantity to the SIU when he learnt of the particular supply of the funds from the place the mortgage quantity was paid.”

There’s now a authorized dispute between Magogodela and Sibanda concerning compensation of the excellent “mortgage” quantity, which has been referred for arbitration and “it is going to be untimely to touch upon it”, Maharaj stated.

Magogodela not off the hook

A supply with direct information of the investigation stated the SIU docket on Inqaba Yokulinda had been despatched to the NPA “a very long time in the past” with a suggestion that the individuals concerned be “criminally prosecuted”.

That is one in every of at the least 30 Lottery-related corruption circumstances within the arms of the NPA awaiting a call on whether or not or to not prosecute.

“Mr Magogodela will probably be very shocked if he’s prosecuted as he has co-operated absolutely with the NPA and expects to be a witness for the state,” Maharaj stated.

The supply additionally revealed that the SIU had acquired a proper request from attorneys appearing for the ASA for particulars of Magogodela’s involvement within the grant. It was believed that ASA had deliberate to carry a proper disciplinary inquiry, the supply stated, however was unaware if it had taken place.

Maharaj denied that the ASA’s lawyer had requested a duplicate of the docket, “and isn’t entitled thereto, particularly since no prison prices are pending in opposition to Mr Magogodela”.

He additionally stated that Magogodela had not confronted a disciplinary inquiry “because the mortgage was a non-public matter not involving ASA”.

ASA spokesperson Sifiso Cele failed to answer questions, together with whether or not Magogodela had confronted a disciplinary inquiry and, if that’s the case, its end result.

Jabu Sibanda splurges

The Kimberley athletics observe mission was presupposed to have been managed by Unicus Solu(IT)ons, an organization headed by Jabu Sibanda, which had no expertise constructing athletics tracks.

Quickly after the NLC paid the grant to non-profit organisation Inqaba Yokulinda, it in flip paid R10-million to Unicus on Magogodela’s directions, in line with Buyisiwe Khoza, the organisation’s director.

This primary cost was meant to cowl, amongst different issues, “preliminary design, specs and invoice of portions, high quality management and mission administration”, in accordance to a letter from Sibanda to Khoza.

Khoza stated that when she first spoke to Sibanda he had launched himself because the NLC’s provincial head in Mpumalanga.

“Sibanda knowledgeable me that the [former] Chief Govt Officer of NLC, Charlotte Mampane and the [former] Chief Working Officer of NLC, Philemon Letwaba, and the [ex NLC board] chairperson [Alfred Nevhutanda] had despatched him to strategy me to help to construct athletic tracks for the North West, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape.”

Cash in, cash out

Earlier than the R10-million landed on 12 March 2018 in Unicus’s account, its steadiness was solely R1,925.

As a substitute of the cash going in the direction of constructing the observe, hundreds of thousands have been paid out for issues unrelated to the grant. This included R2.5-million to attorneys dealing with the acquisition of a mansion in Pretoria for former NLC board director Alfred Nevutanda, in line with a Unicus financial institution assertion.

Sibanda additionally paid off R2.2-million he owed to Clippers, a monetary companies firm; R1.87 million to a Unicus Customary Checking account; R2.5 million to “Ncasa”; R806,550 to a software program firm; and R265,840 to 2 completely different automobile gross sales and restore firms. (The Particular Tribunal froze a number of automobiles belonging to Sibanda.)

There was additionally a cost of R58,500 to Being Human, a well being and “detox” spa in Westville, Durban, for a weeklong therapy for him and his two sons.

By 7 April there was simply R1.78-million left within the account and no additional deposits had are available in, apart from the R10-million cost from Inqaba Yokulinda.