Mungo Soggot
The Pretoria High Court has dealt another blow to the Mpumalanga Gaming Board by refusing leave to appeal against a court order instructing them to hand over videotapes and documents of its deliberations.
The decision is the latest in a series of court orders which have reversed or implicitly questioned decisions taken by provincial gaming boards. These judgments have eroded the credibility of the gaming boards, opening the door to Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin’s threat last month to scrap them and create one national gaming regulator.
The minister signalled his dissatisfaction with the current provincial set-up at a meeting with an organisation representing slot machine operators.
The latest Mpumalanga order was given in a case lodged by Afrisun, a division of Sun International, against a decision by the gaming board to give a licence in Witbank to rival Tsogo Sun. Both Tsogo and the board applied for leave to appeal, but were turned down by Judge Brian Southwood, who released his written judgment last week.
Judge Southwood dismissed arguments raised by Tsogo and the Mpumalanga Gaming Board that it could appeal the order. “While the decision and the orders may cause the respondents some inconvenience and place them at a disadvantage in the litigation, that is not relevant to the question of appealability,” he said.
The Mpumalanga Gaming Board insists that details of its deliberations should not be made public. Chair Keith Kunene said recently that otherwise “[board members] would never be free to say what they want”.
Kunene’s board has been hit with a similar disclosure order over its decision to give a licence to Tsogo Sun in Nelspruit. Tsogo was refused leave to appeal, but then petitioned the chief justice for an appeal, which was granted last month. The rival applicant in that case is Karos Hotels.
In March, the Pretoria High Court set aside a decision by the Gauteng Gambling Board to grant a licence to a company to build a casino near the Sterkfontein caves outside Krugersdorp. The court found the Gauteng board had taken incorrect facts into account in reaching its decision.
The Gauteng board has also been the subject of controversy surrounding its decision to grant a licence in Fourways to Tsogo Sun. The Democratic Party’s Peter Leon has accused Tsogo of paying a R1-million bribe to secure a Gauteng licence – an accusation for which the provincial DP leader is now being sued.
Leon last week sought to persuade the Johannesburg High Court that Tsogo’s R10- million defamation claim should be dismissed because he was protected by the doctrine of parliamentary privilege. Leon argued his statement outside the provincial legislature was also protected by the privilege doctrine, citing foreign cases in which politicians who had confirmed outside Parliament statements made during debates had been shielded from libel suits. Judgment in Leon’s case was reserved.
Leon made his allegation in the Gauteng legislature in February, saying Tsogo Sun paid a senior MEC R1-million for its licence. The politician in question was later identified as MEC for Finance Jabu Moleketi by one of Moleketi’s senior colleagues, Firoz Cachalia.