Tuesday 3 November 2026 · Updated 13:49
Claim Check Misleading

Claim Check: does Minister Tau have 12 months to decide the lottery licence?

Several reports say the minister has 12 months. The court’s order, as reported, works in two six-month periods, and 12 months is the total, not the deadline for a new decision.

By Staff Reporter · Published

Church Square in central Pretoria, with historic buildings and an office tower
File photo: Church Square, central Pretoria. Illustrative. Photo: Pieter-ZA / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
The claim

The minister must “reconsider the award within 12 months”.

As worded in the introduction to IOL’s report on the judgment. The Citizen’s report closes with a similar “12 months to revisit” line.

What happened

Judge Davis in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria set aside Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau’s award of the fourth National Lottery licence to Sizekhaya Holdings, finding that a ministerial committee not provided for in the bid rules had re-evaluated the bids.

Why it matters
  • What changed: a court has set aside the award of the fourth National Lottery licence.
  • Who is affected: lottery players, the bidders and the National Lotteries Commission.
  • What you can do: nothing changes for players. Ticket sales, draws and prize payments continue as normal.
What the record shows
  • Two six-month periods. The declaration of invalidity is suspended for two consecutive six-month periods. The first is for Tau to decide the award afresh. The second applies only if he does not re-award the licence to Sizekhaya, and allows a new agreement and a transition. This is how The National, the body of IOL’s report, the body of The Citizen’s report and Africa Daily, which quotes the judgment, describe it.
  • Where “12 months” comes from. Goldrush Holdings, which has an interest in the outcome, said in a JSE SENS announcement that the judgment “has been suspended for 12 months”. That is accurate as the total suspension. It is not, on the reports we have read, the deadline for Tau’s new decision.
  • What else the SENS announcement says. The review was set aside “on a procedural ground only”, the court “accepted that the Minister acted in good faith”, and Sizekhaya “remains eligible”.
Verdict: Misleading

“12 months” is the total period for which the order is suspended. As reported, the minister’s fresh decision falls in the first six months, and the second six months apply only if he does not re-award the licence to Sizekhaya. We will review this verdict when the full judgment is published.

What we haven’t confirmed

The judge’s first name is given differently in different reports, so we refer to Judge Davis. Whether any party will appeal is not yet known.

Sources and evidence trail

How we make our journalism: every article is checked, edited and approved by our Editor-in-Chief before publication, and SAWS is credited for every warning we report. See our editorial policy.

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