Lottery steps in at 11th hour to help fund Team SA at Paris Olympics

The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has thrown a cash-strapped Team South Africa a last-minute multimillion-rand lifeline to boost their participation in the Paris Olympics, Ground Up reports.

But the almost R39.5-million, only approved less than three weeks before the Games began, comes with stringent conditions on how it must be used, the NLC told GroundUp.

The lottery grant is split between the Olympic Games, R27.9-million, and the Paralympics, R11.5-million, which is also in Paris and follows immediately after the Games.

A condition is that lottery money may only be spent on the athletes, coaches and medical officials. It may not be used to cover the travel and other expenses of sports administrators or politicians who attend, as has happened in the past.

In the run-up to previous Olympic Games, some athletes were left scrambling to raise funds to make up a shortfall in the assistance they received from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

“Attendance of MPs or other officials is not an approved line item for this grant,” the NLC said.

The NLC says it has also placed several former SAascoc directors - who were involved in the dodgy R24.9-million grant in 2016, on its delinquency list.

“SASCOC has been investigated by SIU, and all members of Sascoc that were implicated have been listed on the NLC Non-Compliant Grantee Register... as non-eligible members to apply for NLC funding going forward,” the NLC said.

“None of the Sascoc Board Members who were implicated in the corruption of NLC funding form part of the current Board of SASCOC.”

“Key administrative personnel at Sascoc are also no longer involved. There are currently no Distribution Agency members who have any affiliation to SAascoc.”