Cape Town Commons Series: Tata our billions
On the 22nd of May 2012, HUMA hosted yet another successful event at the Mowbray Town Hall called Tata our â¥Billions. The event, part of our Cape Town Commons series, filled the hall with people from a variety of organisations and areas in the city. Representatives from forty-nine civil society organisations, ranging from township boxing clubs to churches and prominent cultural organisations attended the event. They were all drawn to the event by a common concern over the efficiency with which the South African Lottery distributes money to “good causes”.
In an increasingly tough funding environment, many of these organisations have had to cut their services drastically or even close down due to shifts in the Lottery’s funding criteria and the lengthy turnaround times of applications and grant payments.
The evening started with a panel discussion by three invited speakers. Ilana van Wyk, a researcher at HUMA, gave a short introduction to the history and mandates of the South African Lottery. Joanne Harding then summarised the Funding Practice Alliance’s (FPA) recent research report on the National Lottery Board (NLB) (please follow this link to the report). According to this report, the Lottery Board’s past inefficient, uncoordinated and disorganised grant making was overseen by inept and unaccountable staff. However, things started to change after the South African Education and Environment Project (SAEP) won a court case against the National Lotteries Board. The case defined the accountability and responsibilities of the NLB and its agents, saw the Board streamlining its administration and led to draft amendments to the Lotteries Act. Despite these changes, Joanne pointed out that more needed to be done to reduce the application times and staff turnover rates at the NLB.
The last speaker on the panel, advocate Lourens Ackermann was SAEP’s legal counsel in their court case against the NLB. He summarised the case and explained the laws that govern the NLB’s grant making. Adv Ackermann paid particular attention to Judge Cachalia’s ruling (please follow this link to the judgment), which was scathing about the NLB’s failure to distribute money under its control, about its inability to make decisions in a timely and consistent manner and about its view that “grants given by the board are ‘gratuities,’ which are allocated at the board’s discretion”. The judge noted that the NLB “holds public funds in trust for the purpose of allocating them to deserving projects… The funds do not belong to the board to be disbursed as its largesse”. On this note, advocate Ackermann handed the microphone to Mr Sershan Naidoo, the NLB’s spokesperson, to respond to the panellists before fielding questions from the floor. The ensuing debate was heated, with many NGOs calling for the NLB to be more accountable and transparent. The debate was expertly chaired by Shamil Jeppie.
Listen here to the audio-recording of the event.
Cape Town Commons is HUMA’s forum to engage with issues that challenge and inform us as citizens.