South Africa’s Minister Parks Tau has initiated legal proceedings to overturn a court’s ruling on granting a temporary national lottery licence.
The need for a temporary licence became evident as there were still no announcements made for a full licence short of the 28 May deadline – the date when the tenure of the previous licence holder Ithuba Holdings effectively expired.
To mitigate any problems with the operations of the national lottery, Tau decided to implement a 12-month buffer period, finally choosing Sizekhaya Holdings as the next full licence holder starting May 2026.
However, the Minister also appointed Ithuba Holdings to run the temporary licence, which was met with criticism from other tender bidders questioning the validity of the decision and whether Tau is favouring the company’s interests – given that its licence was already overdue the maximum eight-year period after it was first granted in 2015.
The most outspoken outrage came from Wina Njalo, a company that decided to file a legal complaint with the Pretoria Court and ask for direct intervention in Tau’s temporary licence dealings.
Subsequently, Judge Sulet Potterill ruled that the Minister’s actions are “unconstitutional”, and allowed only for a five-month extension instead of the full year.
Tau has now filed an appeal to counter the ruling, saying that the essence of the national lottery operation requires careful planning and expansive infrastructure, which only Ithuba Holdings currently possesses.
“While the Minister acknowledged that the incumbent licensee might possess an inherent operational advantage due to its established infrastructure in South Africa to conduct the National Lottery, this is a natural and unavoidable consequence of incumbency in such a specialised field,” his appeal read.
“The approved 12-month temporary license period was set to make it financially viable and appealing to potential applicants. A shorter period, like six months or less, would not be sensible due to the high costs and effort involved in starting and running the lottery.”