Ithuba loses urgent court bid to block Sizekhaya’s lottery takeover
Ithuba loses urgent court bid to block Sizekhaya’s lottery takeover Court ruling emphasises public interest in uninterrupted lottery operations November 29, 2025 at 10:21 am It is in the public interest that the lottery should continue uninterrupted, says judge Ronel Tolmay.
The Pretoria high court has dismissed an application by Ithuba Lottery to interdict the implementation of the award of the fourth national lottery licence to Sizekhaya Holdings, pending the final determination of its review application.
Ithuba Lottery is one of the companies which had applied for the fourth national lottery licence, which was awarded to Sizekhaya in May.
Ithuba Holdings, which has been operating the national lottery since June 2015, was granted a 12-month temporary licence to operate the lottery from June 1 2025 until May 31 2026, when Sizekhaya is expected to take over.
Ithuba Lottery had contended it sought the interim relief because the minister of trade, industry and competition’s reasons for awarding the licence to Sizekhaya, together with the minister’s record of decision, had revealed a series of irregularities which, it argued, invalidated the minister’s award.
According to Ithuba, these alleged irregularities violated its rights to just administrative action and a fair, competitive and equitable public procurement process. It alleged irreparable harm on the grounds that, by the time its review application was heard, Sizekhaya would have substantially implemented the award. Ithuba further contended that this situation substantially harmed the public interest and the rule of law.
Sizekhaya opposed the application.
It is in the public interest that the lottery should continue uninterrupted. There is nothing before this court to indicate that Sizekhaya is not in a position to comply with its obligations in terms of the licence
— Judge Ronel Tolmay
Ithuba filed the review application on July 4. It only filed the interdict application on September 1. It said the reason for the delay was that it was awaiting the minister’s reasons for his decision.
“It is difficult to establish why the reasons were required to launch the urgent application, in light of the fact that it was able to launch the review application. Ithuba could have filed this application with the review application, as is done in matters like this. The urgency is self-created,” judge Ronel Tolmay said in a judgment on Thursday.
The judge referred to another court judgment earlier this year stating: “Consistency in striking off self-created urgency matters from the roll is important, as it informs the public and legal practitioners that the rules of court and practice directives can only be ignored at a litigant’s peril.”
Despite this, Tolmay decided to determine the application in the interests of justice because of the public’s interest in the matter and to provide some measure of certainty pending the determination of the review.
“This decision should not be construed as a deviation from the principles applicable to the determination of urgency.”
The risk faced by Ithuba was a commercial risk which was part and parcel of the high-risk industry, she said.
“One should also not lose sight of the fact that Sizekhaya already started with the implementation plans during June.”
Sizekhaya’s commencement of the transition plan and the preparatory steps towards the transition period did not begin on September 2 but immediately after Sizekhaya concluded the licence agreement in May, Tolmay said. This had been known to Ithuba since at least May.
The interests of Ithuba must be weighed against the public interest that the lottery not be interrupted unless the review succeeded, she said. The balance of convenience did not favour Ithuba and that the public interest militated against the granting of the interdict.
“It is in the public interest that the lottery should continue uninterrupted. There is nothing before this court to indicate that Sizekhaya is not in a position to comply with its obligations in terms of the licence.”
There was no indication Ithuba would suffer irreparable harm if the interdict was not granted, she said.
“The review court can still grant adequate relief.”
Tolmay ordered Ithuba to pay the costs of the respondents, including the costs of two counsel.
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