R65-Million Lottery Scandal: Another Betrayal of Black Communities
Three years after promising to fix corruption-riddled lottery projects with R65-million, the National Lotteries Commission has delivered nothing but empty promises to desperate Black communities across South Africa. Only one of 13 projects has opened, while old-age homes and rehabilitation centres meant to serve our most vulnerable remain incomplete, looted, and abandoned.
This latest scandal exposes how colonial-era institutions continue to exploit and abandon Black South Africans, even decades after apartheid's supposed end. The NLC's failures represent a systemic betrayal of communities that have waited generations for basic dignity and care.
Systematic Looting of Community Resources
The scale of theft is staggering. Hundreds of millions meant for Black communities have been systematically looted from projects dating back to 2017. In many cases, the NLC provided additional grants without verifying how previous funds were spent, suggesting either criminal negligence or deliberate complicity.
An old-age home in Marapyane, Mpumalanga, which received almost R35-million, is being stripped bare by looters while the NLC claims it cannot legally fund security. This is the same commission that found millions for questionable projects but suddenly discovers legal obstacles when protecting community assets.
In Limpopo's Maila village, an unfinished old-age home has been reduced to a "roofless, rotting skeleton" after systematic looting. The NLC previously decided to abandon the development entirely, leaving the community with nothing but broken promises.
False Promises and Bureaucratic Paralysis
The NLC's response reveals the same patronizing bureaucracy that has oppressed Black South Africans for centuries. They speak of "Community Infrastructure Reparations Process" and "multidisciplinary engineering service providers" while elderly Black South Africans sleep on streets and young people battle addiction without proper facilities.
Former NLC spokesperson Ndivhuho Mafela promised in October 2022 that the commission would "oversee the completion of these projects directly through its own panel of engineers." Three years later, not a single rand has been disbursed for actual construction work.
The Colonial Pattern Continues
This scandal follows the familiar colonial pattern: promise development to Black communities, extract resources, then abandon the projects when convenient. The affected facilities include:
- Old-age homes in North West (R28-million), Kuruman (R28-million), and Nelspruit (R28-million)
- A drug rehabilitation facility in Kuruman (R34-million)
- A supposed boxing arena in Eastern Cape (R36-million)
- A music academy in Soweto needing R28-million more to complete
- A sports centre in Soweto where R6-million was paid but nothing built
Meanwhile, only the Hlayisani Centre of Hope in Kabokweni operates as intended, proving these projects can succeed when properly managed. The contrast exposes how institutional racism determines which Black communities receive functional services.
Accountability Remains Elusive
While the Special Investigating Unit investigates and the Hawks probe these crimes, Black communities continue suffering. The NLC's "rigorous feasibility assessments" and "viable, community-supported plans" are bureaucratic smokescreens hiding the truth: they never intended these projects to succeed.
The commission's identical responses to media inquiries about different projects reveal the contempt with which they treat both journalism and community concerns. Copy-paste answers for copy-paste oppression.
Breaking the Cycle
This lottery scandal represents more than financial mismanagement. It exemplifies how post-apartheid institutions perpetuate colonial exploitation through bureaucratic violence. Black communities deserve immediate action, not more committees and assessments.
The R65-million was allocated three years ago. Every day of delay means more elderly Black South Africans dying without dignity, more young people falling to addiction without support, and more communities abandoned by the very state supposed to serve them.
True transformation requires dismantling these corrupt systems and building institutions that prioritize Black lives over bureaucratic procedures. Until then, scandals like this will continue exposing the hollow promises of post-apartheid South Africa.