Another blow for Lotto official

Nene in bid to stop disciplinary action against her.

- Tania Broughton

Suspended National Lotteries Commission (NLC) company secretary Nompumelelo Nene has failed, in what was described as a "fishing expedition", to get documents from the auditor-general, the department of trade, industry and competition and the NLC.

In her application before High Court in Pretoria, Nene claimed she needs the documents for her review application in which she is seeking to set aside findings of irregular expenditure by the NLC under her watch, which led to her suspension in November 2022.

But acting Judge AJ le Grange has dismissed the application. He said he was tempted to order that she pay punitive costs, or even costs from her own pocket, but said it was too early in the review litigation process to do that.

GroundUp reported this week that Nene remains on full pay and has been paid out almost R5 million since her suspension.

Earlier this year, Nene launched urgent proceedings to stay the disciplinary proceedings against her. But this was dismissed and she was ordered to pay the costs personally.

In her review application, she is seeking to set aside the auditor-general reports for the financial years 2018 to 2020 which implicated her in misconduct relating to unauthorised expenditure on media services, accountants and auditors.