SIU wins court order to recover R6m in failed R9m NLC Soweto sports project

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has secured a court victory after the Special Tribunal declared a R9 million National Lotteries Commission (NLC) grant awarded for a sports complex in Protea Glen, Soweto, as unlawful and invalid. The Tribunal set aside the grant agreement awarded to the Motheo Sports and Entertainment Foundation. It also ordered those implicated in the scheme to repay millions of rand misappropriated from the project.

Tribunal orders repayment of R6 million According to the SIU, the Tribunal ordered Mr Jeremane Petrus Sedibe, identified as the mastermind behind the scheme, together with Motheo Sports and Entertainment Foundation, former NLC officials, associated individuals and companies. They must jointly and severally repay R6 million. The SIU said only the first two grant payments, totalling R6 million, were released.

However, the final R3 million tranche was withheld after investigators discovered the funds had been diverted and the promised sports complex had never been constructed. “The falsified progress report and irregular approvals meant the NLC could not justify releasing the final tranche,” the SIU said. The Tribunal also upheld an earlier preservation order preventing former NLC employee Mr Sanele Dlamini from accessing his pension fund.

This will remain in place until the SIU recovers the misused funds in full. Dlamini, who approved the second R3 million payment to Motheo, was also ordered to pay the legal costs relating to the pension preservation order granted on 10 June 2025. SIU uncovers irregular funding process The judgment follows an SIU investigation that found Motheo’s original application for more than R61.6 million had failed.

The NLC approved only R70 000, which the non-profit organisation declined. However, five months later, on 14 April 2021, former NLC Grant Funding Projects Manager Mr Marubini Ramatsekisa recommended that Motheo receive R9 million through the commission’s proactive funding process. The recommendation was subsequently approved by former acting chief operations officer Mr Nkhesho Njoni.

On 24 May 2021, Motheo director Mr Tebogo Joseph Mohlala and Londilox NPC co-director Ms Nonhlanhla Matshazi signed the grant agreement with the NLC. Investigators found that shortly after the first R3 million payment was made on 9 June 2021, large portions of the funds were transferred to companies and indivi…