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Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi.
- Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi says there is a smear campaign against him following the backlash of receiving a R3 million donation from the National Lottery Commission.
- The district attorney says he has seen an internal NLC document confirming the amount disbursed and the date of payment to Mulaudzi’s organization.
- The official opposition will present parliamentary questions to the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, and the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to establish if they are aware of the matter.
Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi says there is nothing stopping him from being a member of a non-profit organization.
This came in the wake of the backlash Mulaudzi faced after receiving a R3 million donation from the National Lottery Commission (NLC) to establish a sports center for the Mashamba community in Limpopo.
In a statement, DA Deputy Mat Cuthbert said they had also seen an internal NLC document confirming the name of the beneficiary, the amount disbursed and the date of payment to Mulaudzi’s organization.
“While the DA supports initiatives that aim to develop our rural towns and villages, one has to question the fact that a high-ranking member of the Hawks received such funding from the NLC. This is because the The Department of Commerce, Industry and Competition (DTIC) recently turned over evidence related to the Denzhe Primary Care scandal to the Hawks for investigation, “said Cuthbert.
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Speaking to ENCA, Mulaudzi said: “There is no problem with that. There is nothing that prohibits me from being a member of an NPO. What is critical here is that it is not about the Hawks. It is about the individual. The individual has I have been a part of this smear campaign since 2016. I am aware that I could have been wrong to use my name, but coming from a Limpopo village, I felt it was necessary for people to see that I am re-entering my community “.
“They have called me captured,” he said, refusing to name the “forces” behind these accusations.
When asked about the district attorney’s claims, he said: “The district attorney is feeding this narrative that I am corrupt. As for what I have done, I don’t know, my job involves communicating the Hawks’ problems.” .
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Last month, NLC President Alfred Nevhutanda told Parliament that he would not resign, despite a Department of Commerce and Industry investigation into the disbursement of lottery funds that led to a police investigation into corruption under his supervision. .
The department authorized an investigation into allegations of corruption at the NLC in March 2020, “after numerous articles continued to appear in the media alleging abuse of lottery funding.”
The investigation focused on four NLC proactive funding projects allegedly linked to COO Philemon Letwaba, his friends and family.
The NLC suspended Letwaba in February, and the committee heard Wednesday that he was still being paid.
However, he would not be allowed to return to the commission until the investigations were completed.
Cuthbert said the district attorney would submit parliamentary questions to Commerce and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel and Police Minister Bheki Cele to determine whether they were aware of the disbursement of funds at the time and whether they viewed it as a conflict of interest. .
