Trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau has told bidders vying for the lucrative national lottery contract that he will pick a preferred bidder before the end of May.
However, the matter is likely to be resolved in the courts after a contentious process marred by conflicts of interest and politically exposed people.
Tau wrote to bidders last week to tell them he was close to making his decision. This was after a long and drawn-out process he inherited at the 11th hour when appointed minister after last year’s elections.
“I intend to announce the identity of the successful applicant after negotiations regarding the licence have been concluded to my satisfaction.
“The target date for this announcement is on or before Wednesday, May 28,” reads his note. “This is an indicative date, as it could be affected by a number of factors.”
Tau has already delayed the decision to appoint a preferred bidder after raising concerns about the evaluation process, saying he needed to ensure that no “political party or political office-bearer has any direct financial interest in the applicant or a shareholder of the applicant.”
Business Day has through a series of articles revealed how politically connected entities were in the running to win the lucrative tender.
One of the associations vying for the tender, said to be north of R87bn, is the Ringela Consortium, led by Thebe Investments and Absa chair Sello Moloko’s investment company, Thesele Group.
Thebe Investments is half-owned by ANC benefactor Batho Batho Trust which, according to declarations made to the Electoral Commission of SA, has donated R60m to the ANC since 2021.
Batho Batho Trust was founded by ANC leaders in 1992.
Another bidder is Hosken Consolidated Investments’ (HCI) offshoot Wina Njalo. HCI is majority-owned by the SA Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu), an affiliate of Cosatu, which is in alliance with the ANC.
HCI is run by trade unionist turned-businessman Johnny Copelyn, who donated to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency. Former minister of trade, industry & competition Ebrahim Patel is a former Sactwu secretary-general.
HCI’s subsidiary Vukani Gaming is already a sizeable player in the casino space. Business Day revealed last year that a former senior employee of Vukani Gaming, Anne-Marie Pooley, is part of the team assembled by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) to adjudicate on the hotly contested tender.
But her relationship with one of the bidders, HCI, is not at arm’s length. Her CV shows that in 2006-13 she held the position of national compliance manager at Vukani Gaming, wholly owned by the JSE-listed HCI. Pooley’s LinkedIn page suggests she then held the role of GM at the company in 2014-17.
Pooley’s association with one of the bidders of the fourth national lottery licence does not end with HCI. Business Day has established that Pooley last year invested in an establishment in Pretoria, Route 515 Pub and Grill, which houses the slots and gaming machines of Goldrush, which is also vying for the national lottery contract.
A government notice published in July says: “Route 515 Pub and Grill… intends on submitting an application to the Gauteng Gambling Board for the change of financial interest application to include Anne-Marie Pooley.”
Company records also show Pooley became the sole director of the entity in March, with the establishment’s erstwhile sole director resigning.
Businessperson Sandile Zungu is part of the consortium Goldrush — with a minority stake in it. Zungu in 2022 made a bid to chair the ANC’s biggest province, KwaZulu-Natal, eventually dropping out of the race.
Another high-profile businessperson in the Goldrush Consortium is KZN’s Moses Tembe — a close personal friend and associate of Zungu.
One of the sticking points of the evaluation process is that some bidders share the same technical partner, in the form of IGT.
Current licence holder Ithuba is also in the running. Its detractors say its bid is weak because it does not have a track record of paying dividends to the government, which owns a 20% share in the licence, held on its behalf by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), and for “failure” to grow the game since it took over in 2025.
However, data from the NEF shows Ithuba has paid more than R200m in dividends since 2015. The games played under the national lottery banner have also increased from 6 to 13, with more than 20 instant games, while sales grew from R4.5bn in 2015 to R7.6bn.
Other bidders in the race are Giya Games and the Umbulelo Consortium, led by Afrirent Holdings.
Business Day understands that the department is bracing itself for a bruising legal battle no matter which bidder it chooses, with Tau said to be unhappy about the “poisoned chalice” he inherited in the process.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.