The Special Tribunal has frozen several bank accounts belonging to a KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) National Lotteries Commission (NLC) official and his wife, who are accused of using 400 daycare centers and football clubs to siphon R32 million from the gambling entity.
The interim order was initially granted on August 16, 2023, but has now been varied to include restraining and interdicting the couple, Sibonelo Vilakazi and Nosipho Zanele Zuma, as well as any other person with knowledge of the order, from dealing with the funds in the bank accounts.
The Special Tribunal order, which was granted on an interim basis pending the conclusion of the main application, aims to prevent the couple from accessing an amount of R2.4 million held in four bank accounts.
According to court documents, the Special Tribunal treated the SIU application as urgent, dispensing with the usual forms and service periods provided in the rules for the Conduct of Proceedings in the Special Tribunals.
Judge Lebogang Modiba said freezing the bank accounts aims to ensure that the funds are not dissipated or moved during the civil proceedings.
She said the final determination of the case would shed more light on the nature of the civil proceedings and the reasons behind the freeze order.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said they would immediately embark on legal proceedings against the couple for the unit to recover the money.
“An investigation by the SIU into the affairs of the NLC revealed that Vilakazi approached daycare centers and football clubs in KZN to apply for grant funding. Immediately after receiving funding, football clubs and care centers would transfer large sums of money into 05 ZZET ENTERPRISES (PTY) LTD’s bank account and those linked to Zuma and Vilakazi,” he said.
According to Kganyago, a report by the Financial Intelligence Centre states that 05 ZZET Enterprises received multiple electronic fund transfer payments from several care centers and football clubs to the tune of R32 259 707.
“SIU investigations show that more than 400 care centers and football clubs made payments to accounts linked to Vilakazi and Zuma from money received from the NLC between 2019 and 2023,” said Kganyago.
