Court orders suspended lottery secretary to pay costs for wasting its time

A judge of the High Court in Johannesburg has imposed a punitive costs order against suspended National Lotteries Commission (NLC) secretary Nompumelelo Nene for wasting the court's time.

Nene, who was suspended by the lottery in 2022, approached the court in mid-March with an urgent bid to stop her forthcoming disciplinary hearing. 

Nene is among half a dozen lottery employees being investigated internally for alleged wrongdoing and corruption. A number of senior staff members have also been fired or resigned and are being probed by the police in the theft of hundreds of millions of rands that should have gone to worthy causes.