By Raymond Joseph and Anton van Zyl
For years, Yolisa Yako dreamed of buying land for her non-profit organisation, the Make Me Movement (MMM), to serve as a retreat and safe space for victims of abuse.
But that dream turned into a nightmare after she had accepted an offer of help to apply for a lottery grant – from a woman who had once received counselling through MMM.
The promised funding never materialised. Instead, Yako's organisation was hijacked and used in 2018 to apply for more than R17.79 million in National Lotteries Commission (NLC) funding for a project described as "cycling development in rural areas".
Although the grant was intended for a project in Limpopo, MMM is a registered NPO based in the Western Cape.
Yako says she went into hiding after receiving threats when she began asking questions about the application. Still traumatised, she believes that those responsible will never face justice.
But several years later, there has been some reprieve. Action is finally being taken against a few of those accused of siphoning off millions.
Last month, the Special Tribunal granted an application by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for a preservation order over a smallholding in Centurion, near Pretoria. The property was bought using funds misappropriated from the MMM grant.
Although 16 individuals and entities are named in the order, the main beneficiaries were Collin Tshisimba, his life partner Fulufhelo Promise Kharivhe, and Jacob Ramuhashi. Tshisimba, Kharivhe and their associated companies have been linked to several questionable lottery grants.
Ramuhashi is from Vuwani in Limpopo, and Tshisimba is from Nzhelele, about 50km away. Many of the operations were driven from Louis Trichardt, where Tshisimba and Kharivhe bought multiple properties.
Tshisimba and Kharivhe, reportedly due to their close ties with key players at the NLC, secured millions in lottery funding, often by hijacking dormant or active NPOs without the knowledge or consent of their founders. Large portions of the grants were then diverted to companies they controlled or used to buy property.
How the lottery's con artists move in
Yako told GroundUp that she was approached by Sibongile Mokhokha, who had previously gone through MMM's programme for survivors of gender-based violence. "[She said] the work we were doing was beautiful. And she said she knew people who had access to the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and could help us get funding," Yako said.
After years of struggling to raise money, Yako handed over what she was told were necessary documents for a grant application. These included copies of her own ID, the IDs of MMM's directors, the organisation's registration certificate and its constitution.
But once the paperwork was submitted, Mokhokha "did not want to talk to me," Yako said. "She asked me why I was contacting her, and that she would call me when the money came."
Yako only discovered that funding had been awarded – and paid out – when GroundUp contacted her in 2020 about the cycling-development project.
When she pressed for answers, Mokhokha warned that Ramuhashi – who had claimed to be MMM's director in the grant application – was "a dangerous man". Mokhokha then blocked Yako's number.
Although Ramuhashi signed the NLC application as MMM's "director", he was never involved in the organisation, according to both Yako and the Department of Social Development's NPO registry.
Fearing for her safety after Ramuhashi had asked to meet her at her home, Yako fled to her home village. On the verge of a breakdown, she described herself as depressed, disillusioned, and "very scared that something would happen to me".
Money in, money out
The fraudulent MMM application was submitted to the NLC on 7 July 2018 and approved the following day. The funds were awarded under the NLC's now-discredited "proactive funding" mechanism, which was widely abused under the commission's previous leadership.
NLC records show that the first tranche of R14,233,600 was paid into a Nedbank account opened in MMM's name on 27 July 2018. A second tranche of R3,558,400 followed on 23 January 2019 – despite no evidence that the project had commenced.
The legitimate MMM banked with FNB. At the time the first tranche was paid out, the FNB account was overdrawn by R126.97. There was no activity in July 2018, and Yako closed the account in October to avoid further charges.
In the weeks that followed, millions were withdrawn from the fraudulent Nedbank account. None of it was spent on cycling development.
An SIU investigation found that the day after the funds were received, R3 million was transferred to Thwala Front CC, a company controlled by Kharivhe. Another R1 million went to Black Tshisimba (Pty) Ltd, linked to Tshisimba.
Thwala Front paid R780,000 to property conveyancers for land at Brakspruit, north of Louis Trichardt. The land was registered in the name of Black Tshisimba. Both companies were later deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) for failing to submit annual returns.
Another R1 million was paid to Mountain Village Recreation Centre, a private company directed solely by Ramuhashi. The centre is based in Mdavula village, Malamulele. It too was later deregistered.
According to the SIU, Mountain Village also contributed an undisclosed amount toward a luxury R27-million mansion for former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
Between August and September 2018, a further R4.13 million was paid to Thwala Front, and R2 million to Ndavha Management, another company owned by Tshisimba.
On 23 November 2018, Tshisimba signed a purchase agreement for the Centurion property. An amount of R2.495 million was paid to conveyancers.
Following the second tranche in January 2019, R2.5 million more was paid to Thwala Front. By that stage, just R1,371 remained in the account.
Even the Centurion property's transfer fees were not paid by Tshisimba or Kharivhe. Instead, Uprising Youth Development – another hijacked NPO – paid R150,198. Uprising had received R5.5 million for a sports project in Alexander Bay that never materialised. The NPO's office bearers deny any knowledge of the grant.
The Centurion property was registered in the name of Black Tshisimba on 26 April.
A repeat cycling scam
This was not the trio's first questionable cycling-related grant.
In 2017, the Limpopo Recreational Providers NPO submitted a R9.5 million application for "cycling development in Limpopo". The grant was paid on 13 September 2017.
Less than two weeks later, funds were transferred to companies linked to the group. According to an SIU presentation to Parliament:
* Ndavha Management received R5.7 million
* Wa Rothe Construction, directed by Ramuhashi, received nearly R1.8 million
* Thwala Front, again directed by Kharivhe, received R2 million
The SIU has referred 19 cases involving questionable grants – including several linked to Tshisimba and Kharivhe – to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). So far, only one unrelated case has led to prosecution.
The Centurion smallholding is the seventh asset linked to the couple that has been frozen by the courts. According to an October 2023 media statement by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the SIU, other seized properties include:
* Three in Louis Trichardt: a house in Verreyne Street, a vacant site in Wolf Street, and an undeveloped plot in President Steyn Street
* Two in Centurion: one in Monavoni and another in the upmarket Peach Tree Extension of the Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate
* A farm about 15km south of Louis Trichardt
* The smallholding in Centurion
Kharivhe also used lottery funds originally earmarked for a boxing arena in Storms River, Eastern Cape, to buy a luxury BMW worth R995,000.
GroundUp sent detailed questions to Tshisimba via WhatsApp. He responded with a one-word reply: "Vo[e]tsek". Kharivhe did not respond to questions sent via Tshisimba. Ramuhashi also failed to reply, and Mokhokha could not be traced.
Meanwhile, Yako's dream lies in ruins. Her NPO has collapsed, ending years of work supporting victims of gender-based violence.