There is still no clarity on the future of the Lotto after Saturday night’s draw.
The decision as to which company will be awarded the national lottery licence still rests with Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, current licensee Uthingo said on Thursday.
The Department of Trade and Industry said the minister will make a decision before midnight on Saturday, when Uthingo’s licence expires.
”Uthingo, as well as all parties involved in this, are awaiting the minister’s decision following the court ruling early in March,” said Uthingo spokesperson Shenanda Jansen van Rensburg.
On March 5, Judge Willie Seriti ruled that the process to award the licence by the National Lottery Board was 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 Mpahlwa 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.
Seriti 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 court ruling puts the whole lottery licence matter back in Mpahlwa’s hands. — Sapa