The multibillion-rand contract to operate the national lottery awarded to politically connected Sizekhaya is getting murkier, presenting a potential legal headache for the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau.
This is as more evidence of potential conflict of interest came to light, with several members of the R90bn tender’s bid adjudication committee having links to Sizekhaya and or its part-owner the JSE-listed Goldrush.
Business Day can report that Sizekhaya’s nonexecutive director Fundi Sithebe serves alongside bid adjudication member Mahlubi Mazwi on the interim SAA board, which was constituted by the late public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan in March 2023.
The request for proposal for the fourth licence was published in August 2023.
The NLC and Sizekhaya did not respond to questions on whether the professional relationship between Sithebe was declared to the NLC.
Another bid evaluation member, Thiran Marimuthu, is said to have attended Goldrush’s anniversary golf day in early November 2023, when the tender process was under way.
Marimuthu was shown the door by the Gauteng Gambling Board for reasons not made public — a decision he has appealed with the CCMA, according to the entity’s annual report.
Business Day has previously reported that Anne-Marie Pooley, who also sits on the bid adjudication committee, invested in an establishment in Pretoria, Route 515 Pub and Grill, which houses slots and gaming machines of Goldrush. The transaction involving Pooley was concluded in March last year.
The chair of the bid evaluation committee, Andrew Mashifane, has also not covered himself in professional glory. In 2023 Mashifane, an accountant, admitted guilt to misconduct charges after the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors launched a probe into his conduct.
“The respondent, Mr Andrew Walter Mashifane, was the engagement partner of a holding company with numerous subsidiaries. He failed to appropriately address the impact on the group of material uncorrected misstatements identified during the audit of the company’s subsidiaries and holding company,” the regulatory board’s findings read.
Despite this finding, the NLC still saw it fit to appoint him to chair the panel.
Preferred bidder
Tau last month picked Sizekhaya as the preferred bidder of the lucrative eight-year contract to operate the popular lottery games.
Sizekhaya pipped seven other bidders, including incumbent Ithuba. Goldrush owns 50% of Sizekhaya.
According to company records, Sizekhaya lists Moses Tembe, Goldrush CFO Michael Nurick, Sithebe and National Research Foundation board member Mabatho Mutshekwane as directors. Lebogang Ndadana, who sits on the audit committee of the National Empowerment Fund, which holds a 20% stake in the lottery licence on behalf of the state, is Sizekhaya’s CEO. Businessperson and football boss Sandile Zungu is also part of the Sizekhaya consortium.
Sizekhaya’s close links to deputy president Paul Mashatile were exposed on Monday in an article by amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The publication revealed that Mashatile’s sister-in-law has links to Sizekhaya via her directorship in Tembe’s outfit Bellamont Gaming. It also revealed the close ties between Mashatile and Tembe, who chairs Sizekhaya.
Tembe and Zungu were part of Mashatile’s entourage to France in May that sought to deepen economic ties between the two countries.
Lekalinga, a Serbian group that has local partners, has asked Tau to produce records of his decision. It is preparing to challenge the decision to award the contract to Sizekhaya and wants to check if Tau made sure no political party had direct or indirect interest in Sizekhaya.
One of the entities that bid for the tender is a consortium made up of Thebe Investments, 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 Wina Njalo, offshoot of Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI). 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.
Patel is a former Sactwu secretary-general.
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