Gambling boss quits after forensic audit

National Gambling Board’s chief strategic advisor Caroline Kongwa has resigned. Photo: National Gambling Board annual report 2024 (fair use)

• Caroline Kongwa, the chief strategic advisor of the National Gambling Board (NGB), has resigned.
• An audit found some performance bonuses paid to her and her international travel were “irregular expenditure”.
• The NGB has been without a board for 11 years, but the Minister says a process to appoint a new board is “underway”.
• A whistleblower complained of “a serious gap in governance” at the NGB.

Caroline Kongwa, the chief strategic advisor of the National Gambling Board (NGB) for the past six years, resigned earlier this month after being informed of the findings of an independent audit. The NGB regulates the almost R60-billion gambling industry in South Africa.

Audit firm TSU Investigation Services found that performance bonuses paid to Kongwa during her tenure “were not approved in line with the NGB performance management policy and [are] thus deemed irregular expenditure”.

TSU also found that expenditure relating to “international travel” by Kongwa “can be deemed irregular expenditure”.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau responded to several written parliamentary questions posed by Democratic Alliance MP Toby Chance.

As to whether “disciplinary and criminal complaints” were being considered as a result of TSU’s investigation, Tau said, “Following receipt of the investigation report, the minister has appointed legal representation to advise him on the way forward. The minister is currently engaging with legal counsel on the course of action.”

Kongwa was appointed joint administrator with Tumelo Baleni after the NGB’s CEO resigned in April 2014. This came after the NGB was placed under administration and its board suspended by former minister Rob Davies following a forensic audit into maladministration and wasteful expenditure.

All the board members resigned. The NGB has been without a board for 11 years.

Baleni resigned in 2015.

In response to another question from Chance, Tau said, “The process of selecting members to serve on the National Gambling Board is underway and has not yet been concluded.”

Tau’s spokesperson, Kaamil Alli, did not reply to questions from GroundUp after an earlier undertaking to respond by last Friday.

Kongwa’s initial appointment as a joint administrator was extended several times. Despite some internal opposition, she was appointed chief strategic advisor in 2019, a position which did not previously exist.

Kongwa was paid a total of R3.4-million last year (including bonuses and perks). This was R800,000 more than she was paid in 2023.

For context, in 2024, South Africa’s deputy president was paid R3.16-million and ministers R2.68-million, excluding perks.

Besides her 2024 salary of R2.5-million, other payments she received included a 13th cheque of R212,825 and a performance bonus of R510,781. In 2023 she was paid R2.6-million, including a R196,945 13th cheque and performance bonuses totalling R212,283.

Kongwa response

Kongwa responded to GroundUp: “I can confirm I tendered my resignation. The reasons for my resignation are personal and private and not for public consumption or publication in your story.

“The rest of the issues you raise are official matters and I employ you to directly engage and seek reply from both the DTIC [Department of Trade, Industry and Competition] and the NGB to verify if what your source has told you is the truth.”

“The DTIC and NGB should and are more than capable and accountable to answer for their own statements and deal with official Government business which they make public or report to Parliament.

“I unfortunately am not able to assist you any further. I hereby reserve my rights to sue if any misrepresentations are made in your publication.”

Whistleblowers

A whistleblower, who asked to remain anonymous as they feared punishment for speaking to the media, told GroundUp last year, “I have submissions dating back to 2018 where some senior officials in the DTIC were raising reservations to some of the decisions by the then Minister [Davies], one of which was the creation of the position of a chief strategic advisor for a specific person, the current Accounting Authority [Kongwa].”

Another whistleblower, who also requested anonymity for fear of retribution, shared a letter sent to the DTIC in 2023 about the fact that Kongwa had been at the helm of the organisation ever since the dissolution of the board in 2014. The letter states: “[I]t appears that there is no interest or agility from the side of the DTIC to appoint a Board of Directors for the entity”. This had led to “a serious gap in governance and has created a sense of authority and power by the person who has been the accounting authority [Kongwa]”.

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