The funding cycle was the first to use the NLC’s Thuthuka digital grant management system, which introduced additional compliance and governance controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Key takeaways<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa.- The National Lotteries Commission (NLC)<\/strong> has awarded grants worth R1.657bn (US$99.6m) to organisations across South Africa under its 2024\/25 funding cycle<\/strong>. In an update published on Thursday, November 12, the NLC said the grants covered the charities, sport and recreation, arts, culture and national heritage, and miscellaneous sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The application process opened on December 2, 2024, and closed on March 31, 2025. It was the first funding cycle administered through the NLC\u2019s Thuthuka digital grant management system<\/strong>, which introduced additional compliance checks and governance controls to improve efficiency and curb fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of October 30, 2026, the commission had reviewed 2,492 applications and awarded grants to 721 organisations. It had declined another 1,771 applications over issues relating to the accuracy of financial records, compliance with funding guidelines, and tax and regulatory requirements. The NLC also confirmed that 44 grants were awarded following appeals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The charities sector received the largest share of funding, with 401 grants valued at R917m (US$55.1m) approved. A further 786 applications in the sector were declined. In sport and recreation, 167 grants worth R386.7m (US$23.2m) were awarded, while 468 applications were declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The arts, culture and heritage sector received 135 grants valued at R304.3m (US$18.3m), while 363 applications were declined. The miscellaneous sector accounted for 18 grants worth R48.9m (US$2.9m), with 110 applications declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NLC Commissioner Jodi Scholtz<\/strong> said the adjudication process had taken longer than expected because of the high number of applications that did not meet compliance requirements. She said the commission had to assist organisations in meeting statutory requirements before their applications could be assessed. Scholtz also thanked civil society organisations and other stakeholders for their patience throughout the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NLC said it anticipates opening a targeted funding call for the disability sector in early 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The funding cycle was the first to use the NLC’s Thuthuka digital grant management system, which introduced additional compliance and governance controls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":35163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The South African National Lotteries Commission (NLC) awarded R1.657bn (US$99.6m) in grants for its 2024\/25 funding cycle, utilizing its new Thuthuka digital grant management system. This system introduced enhanced compliance checks and governance controls, resulting in 1,771 application rejections primarily due to non-compliance with financial and regulatory requirements. The initiative underscores a heightened focus on transparency and fraud prevention in public fund distribution.","focusai_entities":"National Lotteries Commission, NLC, Thuthuka, Jodi Scholtz","focusai_location":"South Africa","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), tech_data (0.75), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.7), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"NLC Compliance Impact?","query":"What specific metrics will the NLC use to assess the long-term effectiveness of the Thuthuka system in reducing fraud and improving compliance rates for future funding cycles?"},{"label":"Grantee Operational Burden?","query":"How will the NLC's stringent compliance requirements impact the operational capacity and administrative burden on smaller, less resourced organizations seeking future grant funding?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60019,60011],"tags":[71,2689,74],"class_list":["post-37460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-africa","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-lottery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37460","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=37460"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37492,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37460\/revisions\/37492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
How were the grants distributed across the four sectors?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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