{"id":14143,"date":"2025-12-03T12:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T15:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=14143"},"modified":"2026-04-19T11:08:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:08:47","slug":"jozi-fm-chair-granted-bail-in-r24m-lottery-fraud-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/jozi-fm-chair-granted-bail-in-r24m-lottery-fraud-case","title":{"rendered":"Jozi FM chair granted bail in R24m lottery fraud case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rapitse <\/strong>Montsho, a media consultant who has served on the Jozi FM board since 2012, faces questions over two tranches of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Africa.- Rapitse Montsho<\/strong>, Board Chairperson of Jozi FM<\/strong>, has been granted bail by the Orlando Magistrates’ Court<\/strong> on November 28<\/strong> following his arrest on fraud and theft charges tied to over R24m<\/strong> (\u20ac1.21m) in National Lotteries Commission grants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court initially remanded Montsho in custody after his first appearance earlier that week but has now granted him bail of R10,000<\/strong> (\u20ac503) following a formal bail hearing. The case has also been adjourned to January 20, 2026<\/strong>, for further investigation by the police and the Special Investigating Unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montsho, 62,<\/strong> a media consultant who has served on the Jozi FM board since 2012<\/strong>, faces questions over two tranches of funds: R12m<\/strong> (\u20ac604,000) awarded in August 2013<\/strong> and another R12m<\/strong> (\u20ac604,000) in April 2014<\/strong>. These payments went to the Soweto Media Resource Centre<\/strong>, the non-profit organisation running the station, for a planned multimedia centre in Soweto’s Jabulani Precinct<\/strong>. However, no such facility exists today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montsho claims the funds were used to support a documentary project, titled “Freedom Was Not Free”<\/strong>, which featured interviews with veterans of the liberation struggle and related costs like travel and equipment over three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Station CEO Dr Mpho Mhlongo<\/strong>, who joined Jozi FM in 2012 and serves as one of three signatories on the grant account, filed the criminal complaint after raising concerns internally for years. He said in a statement in October: \u201cWe have no records showing where the money went, and the centre we were promised never came.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This case forms part of the SIU’s investigation into lottery grants, which includes additional payments totalling over R34m<\/strong> (\u20ac1.71m) made to Jozi FM between 2013 and 2016<\/strong>. Last month, Toby Chance, a Democratic Alliance MP, called for greater transparency in the matter. He said: “Lottery players deserve to know their contributions build real projects for communities like Soweto, not leave families waiting a decade for answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> SA Parliament interviews top contenders for NLC chairperson role<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rapitse Montsho, a media consultant who has served on the Jozi FM board since 2012, faces questions over two tranches of funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":7891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Rapitse Montsho, Jozi FM Board Chairperson, has been granted bail following his arrest on fraud and theft charges related to R24m in National Lotteries Commission grants intended for a non-existent multimedia centre. This case is part of a broader Special Investigating Unit investigation into NLC grant misappropriation, highlighting significant governance and compliance failures within the lottery sector.","focusai_entities":"Rapitse Montsho, Jozi FM, National Lotteries Commission, Orlando Magistrates\u2019 Court, Special Investigating Unit, Soweto Media Resource Centre, Dr Mpho Mhlongo, Toby Chance, Democratic Alliance","focusai_location":"South Africa, Soweto, Jabulani Precinct","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"NLC Governance Impact","query":"What specific governance framework enhancements is the National Lotteries Commission implementing to prevent future grant misappropriation, and what is the timeline for these reforms?"},{"label":"Broader SIU Scope","query":"Beyond Jozi FM, what is the estimated total financial impact of the Special Investigating Unit's broader inquiry into NLC grants, and which other entities are under scrutiny?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60023,60011],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-14143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-africa","tag-lottery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14143"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14162,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14143\/revisions\/14162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}