The Special Tribunal has frozen a R500,000 pension payout to former NLC KwaZulu-Natal client liaison officer Sibonelo Vilakazi. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks) 
The Special Tribunal has frozen the pension of a former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) employee, Sibonelo Vilakazi, who used his position to channel payments running into tens of millions of rands to a company controlled by his wife, and into his own bank account.
The couple received payments of more than R31-million from 400 daycare centres and football clubs that received lottery grants between 2019 and 2023.
Vilikazi was the NLC KwaZulu-Natal client liaison officer.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was granted a preservation order
by the Special Tribunal in December last year, but the ruling was made public only last Thursday. The order interdicted a pension payout of R500,000 to Vilakazi.
Vilakazi was dismissed in 2024 after an NLC disciplinary inquiry found him guilty on several charges. These included that his wife, Nosipho Zanele Zuma, benefited from payments to her company, ZZET Enterprises, made by non-profits that had received lottery grants. He was also found guilty of a conflict of interest for not disclosing these payments.
The funds were used to purchase vehicles, including two Toyota Quantums and a Toyota Hilux, and two properties, according to the SIU.
The SIU previously obtained an order to freeze approximately R2.4-million held in four bank accounts linked to Vilakazi and Zuma.
GroundUp previously reported how the Financial Intelligence Centre flagged the suspicious transactions after FNB reported them in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
When the SIU analysed ZZET’s bank account, it found more than R31-million in payments from dozens of non-profit early childhood development centres, crèches, pre-schools and football clubs that had all received Lottery grants.
In most cases, 50% or more of the grant money was paid to ZZET. There were also multiple payments for items marked as sports equipment or sports apparel.
Payments to the company were made by EFT, cash deposits or internet transfers.
“The SIU will continue to pursue officials who resign or are dismissed in the face of an investigation by freezing their pension benefits and instituting civil litigation to recover financial losses suffered by state institutions,” the SIU said in a statement. DM
Originally published on GroundUp.