Ithuba fends off Gidani to retain lottery rights

NATIONAL lottery operator Ithuba Holdings yesterday fended off the latest legal challenge by rival Gidani to have it stripped of the licence to run South Africa’s national lottery.

The North Gauteng High Court dismissed with costs Gidani’s application for leave to appeal its earlier decision this year to set aside Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies’ decision to award the licence to Ithuba.

The two companies have been locked in a courtroom battle for the past three years over rights to render lottery services in South Africa.

Ithuba’s head of legal and company secretary, Zainab Seria, said the developments would give Ithuba time to focus on delivering on its mandate

Seria said it was time Gidani accepted the decision.

“The court’s decision that Ithuba is the rightful national operator has once again been reaffirmed and its time Gidani takes a bow,” Seria said.

In 2014, Davies used his discretion to ignore a recommendation by the National Lotteries Board to award the third national lottery licence to Gidani – a decision that gave Ithuba the licence to run the lottery for eight years.

Gidani took the decision to court and in November last year, Judge Neil Tuchten ruled Davies’ decision as lawful but set aside the awarding of the licence, urging the minister to fix flaws within a month.

Gidani challenged Tuchten’s ruling in the Supreme Court of Appeal and launched another bid in the high court to reverse Davies’ decision. One of Gidani’s contentions was that more money would be distributed to charities through the National Lottery fund if it continued running the national lottery.

Charity

Gidani ran the lottery for eight years and allocated 34percent of its revenue to National Lotteries Commission (NLC), while Ithuba promised 27percent.

Seria said: “Ithuba has to date made 88 millionaires and contributed more than R1.1 billion to good cause through the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).”

The NLC’s Thabang Mampane said the commission had noted the court’s decision.

Mampane said the transfers by Ithuba to NLDTF were detailed in their annual report, “The 2015/2016 annual report has just been tabled in Parliament and will appear on the NLC website soon.”

Davies’ spokesman Sidwell Medupe said the minister welcomed the judgment.

“The minister is confident that now that the process has been finalised, Ithuba will continue with its plans to operate and invigorate the national lottery and ensure continued contributions to good causes.”