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.
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