South Africa’s National Lotteries Commission is set to fight corruption and compensate communities wrongly affected by it under the tenure of the new commissioner Jodi Scholtz.
The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) board has approved using a reparatory process to correct the wrongs created by corrupt practices within the organization. The steps to be carried out include rendering apologies to ex-staff punished or laid off from their jobs for blowing the whistle on corruption.
In an interview, Jodi Scholtz, the new NLC Commissioner, said, “We’re doing it because the NLC has wronged communities, and we need to say sorry. It needs to be lawful and authentic. We need to make amends within the PFMA (Public Finance Management Act). The idea is to say sorry in a meaningful and meaningful way for everyone. My original proposal was for staff only. But communities have also been affected. They have been hurt. We cannot just say it is business as usual.”
The proposed reparation model to be used by NLC is similar to that used by the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS). The model apologized and paid reparation to staff unjustly exited during the hollowing out of the ministry under Jacob Zuma’s Administration.
The new commissioner is meeting with staff, ex-staff who were inappropriately sacked, and labor unions to ensure the effectiveness of the ongoing thorough clean-up within the organization.
“We will have zero tolerance for fraud and corruption, and there will be consequence management. I have told them that everyone is obliged to report corruption if they encounter it,” says Commissioner Jodi Scholtz.