Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times
As South Africans intoxicate themselves in the relative pettiness of the Miss SA debacle and the government of national unity arranged marriage, the monstrous R180bn National Lotteries Licence will be issued in the next few weeks.
Spoiler alert, the winning bidder will potentially be yet another politically connected entity that has probably donated huge amounts of cash to one of the biggest political parties in the country.
This coveted operator licence will make Tshifhiwa Matodzi and his VBS Mutual Bank shenanigans look like an unrehearsed primary school play, in value and controversy. It is even more lucrative than the timelessly scandalous arms deal in SA. Hence it is a magnet to the business elites and tender royalties.
True to form, from inception, the current licence process has been riddled with controversy aplenty as the former responsible minister of trade, industry and competition, Ibrahim Patel, dragged his feet to issue a basic RFP (Request for Proposal) document to the effect.
The disturbing public disinterest in this staid issue boggles the mind because it is mainly the poor who are meant to benefit from both the issuer of the licence and the prospective bidder.
A significant percentage of the amounts from the activities and proceeds is intended to aid NPOs and other organisations that are concerned with the poverty alleviation process. The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) will be entitled to billions of rand from the operator to be. In turn, they will have to distribute the funds to worthy causes. Albeit the NLC has been carrying its share of tittle-tattles themselves.
The current operator, Ithuba, is most likely to attain the licence again. As a front-runner, this entity led by Charmaine Mabuza is the favourite among the shortlisted seven bidders. It enjoys political connectivity and network preference.
In 2015, judge Neil Tuchten of the North Gauteng High Court found that the then-minister’s decision to grant Ithuba a licence was irrational as he (minister) failed to take into consideration certain provisions of the licence agreements. Despite all this, Ithuba subsequently ended up with the licence nonetheless.
A different minister in the same portfolio extended Ithuba’s licence post its expiry term for an additional two years. This had not been done before.
The other bidders include Hosken Consolidated Investments, which is led by Yunus Shaik, one of the Shaik brothers who are no strangers to public scrutiny. This may be a compromise prospective operator because the process determines that the minister must choose from the top two as offered by the NLC board.
The socially palatable businessman, Sandile Zungu, is also in the running through the Gold Rush bid. Not to be outdone are the big boys from Thebe Investment linked to Rengeta. Afri-Rent has also thrown the hat in the ring as Umbulalelo Consortium, tagging along with them a 30% share of traditional leaders.
The minions in this shortlisting for the R180bn ultimate prize is Giya Games run by an unknown young black accountant. They appear to stand very little if any chance at all. They are seemingly just a tick-box exercise for the process.
When SA wakes up from the slumber of ignorance, incumbent minister Parks Tau will have issued a bid. The couch potato Mzansi bunch will then pretend to be flustered and utterly infuriated over this decision. The media will spit fire for a week or two and the dust will settle.
Taxpayers’ money would have helped another inner-circle entity to add more zeros to their bloated bank accounts.
- Shole-Mashao is a commentator, freelance journalist and broadcaster
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