Uthingo wins lottery round as judge sets aside licence ruling
March 6, 2007
By From Sapa
Pretoria - It was business as usual for national lottery operator Uthingo after the Pretoria high court yesterday set aside trade and industry minister Mandisi Mphahlwa's decision to award the lottery licence to Gidani.
Judge Willie Seriti ruled that the process followed by the national lotteries board was flawed. 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 the minister to apply his mind properly under the Lotteries Act, Seriti said.
The board's failure to find out 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.
The judge 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 ANC national executive committee, Chris Nissen and Max Sisulu.
The court was informed that Pandor had sold her stake in Black Management Forum Investments, which has 10 percent of Uthingo, a few days before the court case began.
Uthingo claimed it only became aware of Pandor's stake in January.
Gidani chairman Bongani Khumalo said the firm needed to study the judgment before making a decision about "the road ahead". The matter will be heard in court on March 28. - Additional reporting by Thabiso Mochiko
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