Mystery of R3-million in Lottery funds paid to Athletics South Africa

Athletics South Africa (ASA) boss Terrence Magogodela was the body’s finance manager when a mysterious R3-million payment was made to ASA from a non-profit company used to loot lottery funds. Archive photo of Terrence Magogodela supplied by the SIU.

• In 2018, R3-million was paid to Athletics South Africa (ASA) by Make Me Movement (MMM), an organisation that worked with victims of GBV, but was hijacked by lottery looters.
• MMM had received R18-million from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) for a bogus rural cycling project.
• Cycling SA, the national body which oversees the sport in South Africa, says “cycling development falls outside of ASA’s area of responsibility and expertise”.

Millions of rands from a lottery grant intended for a rural cycling project were paid to Athletics South Africa (ASA) in 2018. The R3-million payment came from a non-profit working with victims of gender-based violence, Make Me Movement (MMM), which was hijacked by lottery looters and used to apply for an R18-million grant for “cycling development in rural areas”.

But the cycling project never took place, and ASA says it has no knowledge of the R3-million funds. Meanwhile, Cycling SA, the national body which oversees the sport in South Africa, says “cycling development falls outside of ASA’s area of responsibility and expertise”.

Sifiso Cele, spokesperson for ASA, said the first time the body became aware of the R3-million payment was last week when GroundUp sent a query about it.

“ASA would rather not comment at this stage to create room to look at this internally,” he said.

Acting CEO

ASA’s finance manager at the time of the mysterious R3-million payment was Terrence Magogodela. He was implicated in another dodgy National Lotteries Commission (NLC) grant application, in which he claimed to be the director of a multimillion-rand athletics track project in Kimberley. He was subsequently listed as a respondent in a 2022 Special Tribunal preservation order related to the dodgy track project, and later admitted that he used part of the funds to pay transfer and legal fees for his new house.

Magogodela was promoted and is now ASA’s acting chief executive officer.

In April last year, Magogodela repaid almost R400,000 of the “ill-gained” lottery funds. The SIU made it clear at the time that he could still be prosecuted: “[The] SIU remains entitled to join Mr Magogodela in any future proceeding and claim appropriate relief from him.”

His attorney, Dev Maharaj, previously told GroundUp that he would be “very surprised if he [Magogodela] is prosecuted as he has co-operated fully with the NPA and expects to be a witness for the state”.

Asked about the R3-million payment and what it was for, Magogodela told GroundUp: “Non-profit organisations such as ASA are expected to keep records up to five years. The dates mentioned in the graphics are around seven years ago, and those records are most difficult to retrieve and may have been disposed [of].”

“Please let us have more details regarding the issue and the source documents that you’ve seen to enable us to consider whether we are able to provide any clarity,” he added.

The R3-million payment to ASA by MMM was highlighted in a SIU graphic (see 9 September 2018) illustrating how millions of rand from the R18-million MMM grant were corruptly misappropriated. The main beneficiaries were Collin Tshisimba and his “life partner”, Fulufhelo Promise Kharivhe. The SIU has identified the couple as kingpins in the looting of the NLC. We sent a query to Tshisimba and asked him to pass on our query to Kharive. He responded “Vo[e]tsek”.

Last month, the Special Tribunal issued a preservation order that froze a smallholding in Centurion bought with funds from the MMM bogus cycling project.

The couple are among 16 people and entities named in the order. The property frozen by the Tribunal was registered to Black Tshisimba, one of Tshisimba’s companies. The smallholding in Centurion is the seventh property purchased using lottery funds linked to the couple, which the courts have frozen.

Payment mystery

It is unclear why ASA, which oversees athletics in South Africa, would be paid funds earmarked for a cycling development project.

Responding to questions, President of Cycling SA Qondisa Ngwenya said his organisation was not aware of any lottery-funded project for cycling development in rural areas in 2018.

“Given the reported amount involved, a development initiative of this scale would have certainly drawn the attention of the federation and been communicated across our structures”, he said. “Cycling development falls outside of ASA’s area of responsibility and expertise.”

Funding on the scale granted to MMM “would have made a significant impact on the development of cycling, particularly in underserved communities”, he said.

“As highlighted by the Limpopo Cycling leadership, this could have enabled the establishment of community-based cycling hubs equipped with training and racing bikes, training programmes for mechanics and entry-level coaches, and talent identification initiatives focused on youth from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.”

ASA’s Lottery millions

Over the years, ASA has been one of the largest beneficiaries of lottery funding. It has received over R156-million and its provincial affiliates a further R85-million in lottery grants since 2002.

Former ASA president Aleck Skosana and ex-vice president Harold Adams previously served on the NLC’s sport, arts and culture distribution agency (DA), which adjudicates grant applications. Both were members of the sports DA at a time when tens of millions of rands were granted to ASA and its affiliates.

Skosana was ASA president at the time of the R3-million payment. He did not respond to questions sent to him via WhatsApp.

Adams told GroundUp: “During 2018 and 2019 I stepped back from all positions in sport [including ASA] to receive treatment … for a life threatening disease. Therefore I do not know anything about the money paid to ASA as per your enquiry. I do not know of any investigation into ASA as I am not part of the board anymore.”

ASA was grilled in Parliament last month about the alleged abuse of an official credit card by its president, James Moloi, after it was used for transactions at various taverns, shisanyamas and bottle stores.

In response, sports minister Gayton McKenzie announced that his department would conduct a forensic audit into ASA’s spending.

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