Samke

BREAKING NEWS 🚨 Court Declares Sizekhaya’s National Lottery Licence Invalid The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has set aside Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau’s decision to award the Fourth National Lottery and Sports Pools Licence to Sizekhaya Holdings (RF) (Pty) Ltd. In a judgment delivered today, Monday, 2 November, Judge Neil Davis declared the licence agreement between the minister, the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and Sizekhaya invalid. However, the court suspended the order for 12 months to allow Tau to reconsider the award and make arrangements for a possible transition to another operator. Lottery operations can continue in the meantime. The court directed Tau to make a fresh decision without relying on the report and recommendations of the Ministerial Committee he appointed to reassess the bids. Sizekhaya was announced as the successful bidder in May 2025 after eight applications were evaluated. The company includes KwaZulu-Natal businessmen Moses Tembe and Sandile Zungu, owner of AmaZulu Football Club, among its prominent figures and is partly owned by JSE-listed Goldrush Holdings. Its eight-year licence took effect in June 2026, replacing previous operator Ithuba. The court found that Tau's decision to introduce an additional Ministerial Committee was unlawful because the process was not provided for in the original request for proposals. The NLC's evaluation had ranked Ringeta Consortium first with 73.92 points, followed by Sizekhaya with 72.95 points. However, the committee applied different weightings and recommended Sizekhaya as the preferred bidder. Judge Davis found that the additional process was procedurally unfair because bidders had not been informed of it. The court accepted that Tau had acted in good faith but ruled that appointing and relying on the committee amounted to an unlawful exercise of his powers. It also highlighted the public interest in maintaining lottery operations, which provide funding to charities, old-age homes and other beneficiaries. The licence award had faced legal challenges from unsuccessful bidders, including Ithuba Lottery and Lekalinga. An earlier urgent application by Ithuba to stop the handover was dismissed in November 2025, allowing the transition to proceed while the main review continued. Tau, the NLC and Sizekhaya were ordered to pay the legal costs of Ithuba and Ringeta. The minister must now reconsider the licence award within 12 months, excluding the Ministerial Committee's recommendations.