Tau seeks to overturn court ruling on National Lottery licence

THE Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Parks Tau, has filed an application for leave to appeal a recent court ruling that set aside his decision to grant a 12-month temporary licence to Ithuba Holdings, the current operator of the National Lottery.

- MASHUDU SADIKE

The appeal, lodged with the Pretoria High Court, effectively allows Ithuba to continue running the lottery until the outcome of the matter is reached.

In his notice for leave to appeal, Tau denied any intention to favour Ithuba Holdings, saying that the conditions of the 12-month lottery licence bid were "unavoidable and natural" in the specialised lottery industry.

"While the Minister acknowledged that the incumbent licencee 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," the court papers stated.

The court papers said that in the event of leave to appeal being granted, the applicant would seek an order upholding the appeal with costs, including the cost of two counsel, setting aside the order of the court a quo and replacing it with an order dismissing the application with costs, including the costs consequent upon the employment of two counsel.