R180 billion National Lottery tender awarded to Moses Tembe’s Sizekhaya Holdings

by Nomonde Simelane

The National Lottery Commission (NLC) has garnered some backlash as Moses Tembe and Sandile Zungu have been announced as the winners of their highly contested tender via their consortium Sizekhaya Holdings.

Valued at R180 billion over the span of eight years, the National Lottery tender is possibly the most lucrative and contentious public contract in South Africa.  The process of selection for the tender is managed by the NLC, under the surveillance of the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition.

Currently, Charmaine Mabuza’s Ithuba Holdings carries the responsibility as the National Lottery’s operator, and despite submitting his bid for another term, this time, the favour was on Moses  and Sandile’s side, as their consortium Sizekhaya Holdings was named as next in line by Minister of Trade and Industry Parks Tau.

With a contract of this magnitude, and with so much at stake, this contract has had its fair shares of delays and challenges, including to the delay in issuing the Request for Proposal, with Ebrahim Patel, who was the Minister of Trade and Industry at the time, citing some differences within the NLC. Furthermore, Julius Malema’s EFF and Mmusi Maimane’s BOSA raised concerns over the lack of transparency regarding the selection process, causing even further delays.

Sizekhaya’s selection the new operators has sparked some controversy and backlash, as the EFF as well as some members of the public alleged that the decision was based on favouritism, as opposed to merit. Sandile, a prominent Kwa-Zulu Natal businessman has well-known ties with the ANC, as he previously contested for the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson position, while Moses’s ties appear to be more speculative than factual.

“The EFF rejects Minister Parks Tau’s corrupt decision to award the National Lottery license – worth R180 billion- to Sizekhaya Holdings which GoldRush Consortium is a major shareholder.+

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