POLOKWANE – The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has called out the National Lottery Commission (NLC) over ‘wasted funds’ meant for the building of ablution facilities at eight schools in Polokwane and Venda, leaving learners without functional and safe facilities to use.
In a statement by Outa, the organisation says they conducted site inspections at the eight schools from 20 to 22 May 2019 to establish the accuracy and truthfulness of a presentation sent to the NLC and wanted to determine whether the funding received by Zibisfusion, from the NLC was, in fact, being utilised for the upgrading of ablution facilities as claimed by the NLC and the appointed contractors.
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Zibsifusion, a non-profit company that operates as a Charities Distributing Agency, was awarded proactive funding in the amount of R10 million in November 2018 to improve the sanitation facilities in 10 public schools in Limpopo.
The report, they say, detailed Zibsifusion’s progress regarding the building of ablution facilities in eight schools located in Polokwane and Venda but Outa says red flags were raised because the NLC awarded Zibsifusion R10 million to build ablutions in ten schools and not eight.
OUTA’s Portfolio Manager for Education, Dominique Msibi says it was a concerning irregularity which triggered their site visit to the schools who were supposed to benefit from new ablution facilities.
She says the funds were paid to Zibsifusion prior to its progress report dated March 2019 and the purpose of Outa’s visit was to assess the quality and progress of the ablution construction sites detailed in the report. “It was quite apparent by the state of construction that minimal work had started, even though Zibsifusion had already received the full R10 million from the NLC. In fact, most of the construction sites suggested that work had only recently begun, if at all. This begs the question: what was the Zibsifusion progress report based on?” Msibi asked.
Of the eight schools that Outa visited, Ngwanabahlalerwa Primary School, in Goothoek outside Dendron, was one of them. There are four pit toilets at the school, two per gender, of which 230 learners have to share these facilities.
“Due to the number of users, the urinals overflow. The overflow, in turn, causes excrement to spill out onto the toilet floors, meaning the learners have to step in it in order to use the toilets,” the report read.
According to the report, construction of new toilets began in April but by 20 May, when Outa visited the site, not much was done. “The expected completion time was a week from the date of our visit, approximately early June 2019,” they said.
Outa has condemned the ‘appalling state’ of the ablution facilities at the schools, saying they would like to see NLC employees who are involved in disbursing millions of rands irregularly, held accountable for misusing taxpayers’ money. “The findings of this site visit are only the tip of the iceberg regarding our investigations into the NLC,” Msibi concluded.
Review is currently awaiting comment from the NLC’s Head of Stakeholder Relations, Marketing and Communications, Ndivhuho Mafela on the matter.
