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Lotto lolly limbo
By Wessel Oosthuizen
JOHANNESBURG – Hundreds of millions of much-needed Lotto rands earmarked for sport are frozen because of a spat between two ministers.
Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa has failed to appoint a new sports distribution agency after the committee’s term of office expired at the end of last March.
It is believed R600 million (R300m for 2006 and R300m for 2007) is lying idle and insiders blame the blunder on a conflict between Mpahlwa’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile.
But it was Mpahlwa’s job to appoint the agency. No one answered the DTI’s telephone yesterday.
When approached last July, it took DTI almost six weeks to comment on the story.
“I am totally unaware of a new agency being appointed and I would like to suggest that you phone the DTI Minister’s office,” said Sershan Naidoo, Lotto spokesman.
Stofile’s spokesman, Bongi Shishi, said he did not know about any conflict between the two ministers.
“I am actually not even aware that Lotto money for sport is not distributed,” he said, although it is common knowledge that the country’s Olympic preparations lie in tatters because funds have not come through.
Without a distribution agency sports federations cannot apply for Lotto funding.
South African sport, especially the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) is in dire need of funding.
With the Beijing Olympic Games a mere 18 months away, Sascoc recently received funding from Sport and Recreation South Africa for its Operation Excellence programme.
Sascoc is still without sponsors for next year’s Olympic Games and will have to rely heavily on Lotto for funding.
Makhenkesi’s operation excellence gesture came far too late and there is not enough time left for athletes to prepare properly, so the country is heading for another mediocre performance in Beijing, a sports administrator said.
Rumours were rife that former Nocsa boss, Sam Ramsamy, will be chairman of the distribution agency, but yesterday reports surfaced that ex- Springbok rugby manager, Gideon Sam, has got the nod.
Ramsamy will apparently serve on the new agency.
Sam is the former head of the Commonwealth Games Association. Both are known for their administration skills and should the agency be appointed, the distribution process should be in operation in a few months’ time.
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