Lottery workers march in Pretoria
Workers demand higher wages and changes to the way the National Lotteries Commission is run
Employees of the National Lotteries Commission marched to the offices of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in Pretoria on Wednesday. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
- Employees of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) marched to the offices of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in Pretoria on Wednesday.
- They were complaining about wages and working conditions, among other things.
- Last year the NLC implemented a 7% across the board increase, said Commissioner Jodi Scholtz.
- Wage negotiations for the 2025/26 financial year have deadlocked.
About 100 employees of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) marched from their offices to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in Pretoria complaining about wages and working conditions and the âmodernisationâ of the NLC.
Protesters dressed in the black T-shirts of the Public Servants Association (PSA), were joined by a few members of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW). Many sang songs and waved placards about their grievances.
They called for the removal of the NLC board, an end to âselective accountabilityâ, and higher increases during wage negotiations. They said vulnerable communities were not benefitting enough from lottery money.
The protest follows weeks of picketing by employees after wage negotiations for the 2025/2026 financial year deadlocked. The PSA is demanding an 8.5% increase and the NLC is offering 6.5%.
Last year the union and the NLC were unable to come to an agreement, and the PSA has accused management of unilaterally implementing a cost of living adjustment while the wage negotiations were unresolved.
Mashudu Muhanelwa, chairperson for the PSA at the NLC, said that workers want Parks Tau, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, to intervene regarding their issues with the NLC. âThe main thing we are concerned about is the sustainability of this organisation. We are not in any way defending or fighting against any management regime. We want whatâs best for the workers of this organisation,â said Muhanelwa.
He complained about the appointment of consultants, a lack of worker performance bonuses, lack of transparency and a decline in governance standards.
The workers handed over a memorandum at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition offices.
NLC Commissioner Jodi Schultz said in a statement that rather than risk a long dispute the NLC had implemented a 7% across the board increase in the the 2024/25 financial year.
âThis comprised a 4.4% pensionable increase and a non-pensionable allowance equivalent to 2.6% of salary, payable until March 2025.â Schultz said at the time inflation was about 4%, so this was a âsubstantialâ increase.
Schultz said the march focusing on 2024/25 issues while the current wage negotiations were underway âdoes not advance constructive collective bargainingâ.
NLC spokesperson Rudzani Tshigemane told GroundUp the PSAâs concerns about governance and lack of funding for vulnerable communities were related to the need for compliance with tax regulations and the law. âWhile we understand the challenges faced by community-based organisations, compliance is not optional; it is a legal and ethical obligation that affects South Africaâs international standing. Management has a legal duty to comply with legislation.â
âOur ongoing modernisation initiative is designed to enhance transparency and reduce corruption. These are goals we hope all stakeholders, including the PSA, will support and not frustrate. We have also engaged in actions towards lifestyle audits, something the PSA has not consistently supported.â
âWhile change can be unsettling, the Commissioner has repeatedly assured staff that no job losses are anticipated as a result of these reforms.â
Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast
Next: Joburg wheelchair users demand houses
Previous: Homes bulldozed in Roodepoort
© 2025 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and GroundUp, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
We put an invisible pixel in the article so that we can count traffic to republishers. All analytics tools are solely on our servers. We do not give our logs to any third party. Logs are deleted after two weeks. We do not use any IP address identifying information except to count regional traffic. We are solely interested in counting hits, not tracking users. If you republish, please do not delete the invisible pixel.