Court sets aside awarding of lottery licence to Gidani.

[Dave A]

Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa will study a judgement handed down by the Pretoria High Court setting aside his decision to award the national lottery licence to Gidani.

"I have to look at the contents of the judgement so that a decision on the way forward can be made," he said at the launch of the Risk Capital Facility Two programme in Sandton on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Pretoria High Court Judge Willie Seriti ruled that the process followed by the National Lotteries Board had been flawed.

He said the board had failed to investigate the shareholdings in the first preferred bidder, Gidani, and the second preferred bidder, Uthingo. That information was material for the minister to apply his mind properly under the Lotteries Act, he said.

The board's failure to obtain information about the shareholders had resulted in Uthingo being recommended as the second preferred bidder despite Education Minister Naledi Pandor -- "obviously" a political office bearer -- having shares in a company with a stake in Uthingo.

The judge said this finding made it unnecessary to rule on legal argument that the winning Gidani consortium was also excluded because its shareholders included two members of the African National Congress national executive committee, Chris Nissen and Max Sisulu.

The ruling effectively puts the whole lottery licence back in the minister's hands.
full story from M&G here

[Dave A]

There is still no clarity on when the National Lottery, suspended since the end of March, will be back up and running.

At a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa declined to elaborate on the issue.

He repeated his earlier statement, made a week ago, that he would be able to give a more "definitive indication" on this at the end of May.

Last Thursday, Mpahlwa said the National Lotteries Board had approached him during the course of April and asked for more time to ensure a complete and thorough process in completing "the work that I had asked them to do".

The board had told him more time was needed to decide who would get the new lottery licence, following "delayed submissions" of necessary information by some of the bidders.

Payments to "good causes and ticket holders" would be unaffected during this period.
full story from M&G here