Johannesburg - The High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday refused, with costs, the application by Gidani (Pty) Ltd for leave to appeal against the judgment of Justice Billy Mothle, which was handed down on 13 May 2016.
Spokesperson Sidwell Medupe said Gidani’s filed application for leave to appeal came in a long line of challenges against the decision by the Minister of Trade Industry Rob Davies to award the third national lottery licence to the current operator, Ithuba (Pty) Ltd.
In his judgment Judge Mothle stated, among other things, that he was not persuaded that Gidani’s envisaged appeal would have a reasonable prospect of success nor was he persuaded that there are any compelling reasons why the appeal should be heard.
The Court also stated that it could not find anything irrational with the Minister’s decision in awarding the Licence to Ithuba.
The Court further held that the minister’s abandonment of the NLDTF undertaking was “thus a logical and necessary consequence of the judgment of Tuchten J and cannot be said to vitiate the second decision to appoint Ithuba as the Third National Lottery operator”.
Davies said he was confident that now that the process had been finalised, Ithuba would continue with its plans to operate and invigorate the National Lottery and ensure continued contributions to good causes.
African News Agency