There is no doubt that a national lottery is a huge multi-billion business capable of generating desired socio-economic returns to a country it operates from. These returns are inter alia in the form of huge tax to such country and the creation of employment opportunities. In the process of allocating a trading licence to a consortium that would have won the bid to run the national lottery, a high standard in terms strict conditions are a prerequisite. The national lottery is a lucrative business estimated at about P 100 billion annual turn-over. It is fair and reasonable to wish a local consortium to win the bid to run the national lottery. But it cannot be that a local bidder is chosen at all costs and perhaps as a matter of life and death, to be the operator of the national lottery. Neither can it be that a foreign consortium is chosen on such basis. The winner of the bid should for all intents and purposes be a reputable consortium underpinned by adherence to the Gambling Authority’s requirements in all forms or shapes together with relevant legislation in force.
Two consortiums namely Grow Mine which is predominately a local entity if you like and Ithuba Holdings which is made up of local and foreign business people, competed for the bid to be the preferred bidder to the national lottery overseen by the Gambling Authority. It would appear from what is in the public domain that the Grow Mine consortium almost ticked all the right boxes in the competition through which it won the bid. Aggrieved by the choice of Grow Mine by the Gambling Authority as the winner of the bid, Ithuba Holdings approached the High Court on more than one occasion together with the Court of Appeal in order for them to declare Grow Mine’s win irregular if not unlawful. These efforts failed thereby rendering the win by Grow Mine to stand. As a preferred winner, Grow Mine was expected by the Gambling Authority to fully satisfy the requirements of being a preferred winner specifically on being able to raise the P 100 million initial deposit or to demonstrate that it could raise the same from somewhere else. All along, it appeared Grow Mine was fully covered to raise the initial deposit from the Sefalana Group without any sweat since the latter was a major shareholder in the former. As fate would have it, Sefalana Group pulled out of Grow Mine for one reason or the other. This, it consequently emerged, was the beginning of the major challenge that would plunge Grow Mine into a position of huge vulnerability with respect to raising the P 100 million initial deposit.
Subsequent to the failure by Grow Mine to raise the initial deposit as a prerequisite to ultimately be issued with a trading licence to operate the national lottery, the Gambling Authority turned its attention to Ithuba Holdings in terms of opening national lottery licence negotiations with it as it had been declared the second preferred bidder should Grow Mine fail to make it for whatever reason. Faced with the inevitability of losing on the national lottery, Grow Mine is reported to have approached the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Hon Mmusi Kgafela to enter the national lottery fray. Predictably, one could make a veiled conclusion that the Minister could employ a ‘homeboy’ strategy to resolve the matter given the fact that Grow Mine is a local entity constituted in large measure by local business people. Is the Minister’s entrance into the fray not muddying the waters by ordering the Gambling Authority Board to halt negotiations with Ithuba Holdings? Only time will tell as the story unfolds further. A pertinent question should be asked: why did Grow Mine not approach courts to review and set aside the decision of the Gambling Authority if it felt such decision was irrational if not unlawful?
There is a school of thought in some quarters that Grow Mine chose the Minister’s route gripped by the fear that it potentially stood to lose if it chose the court route. As far as I can recall, Grow Mine has at the time of writing this article (and I stand corrected), not approached court with regard to this thought. If it has not done so, the fear factor could very well be the founded. There is also a school of thought suggesting Grow Mine argues P 100 million initial deposit is not an initial requirement bidders were expected to meet. If the latter school of thought is indeed true, Grow Mine could simply raise it in court as a mitigating factor which court would not have any other option but to confirm in favour of Grow Mine. News has emerged that Grow Mine had approached Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) for financial assistance but that such approach brought no positive response. If this piece of news is correct, why would the consortium approach BDC for financial assistance if this was not an initial requirement in the bid? Even if they argue that they were given a short space of time to source the P 100 million initial deposit as it appears to be the other argument, it cannot stand because the fact remains: they were aware as a bidding entity that in the event it won the bid, that amount is a requirement and it is not negotiable. To come at this late stage to complain about the amount sounds very disingenuous if not self-serving.
It is my considered view on what one gathers that Grow Mine complaint is simply a case of sour grapes occasioned by possible false pretence that as a largely local consortium, it will attract a favourable consideration to be the preferred bidder. Needless to say, Grow Mine was given the opportunity to run the national lottery but its main undoing appears to be the failure to satisfy the requirements of the Gambling Authority particularly the P 100 million initial deposit. Like I have alluded to above, national lottery is a high value business with an estimated annual turn-over of about P100 billion. Surely, the Gambling Authority cannot afford to treat it as an exclusive homeboy venture even when it is clear the local consortium has failed to overcome the first hurdle. It is a known fact that many local companies have failed to effectively and efficiently undertake projects they were given. While it will be grossly unfair to paint the consortium with the same brush, it is difficult not to draw same conclusions on potential failure on running the national lottery. It would have been a good thing for Grow Mine to win and manage the national lottery. But as it is emerging, it appears running a national lottery by the consortium is a bridge too far. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!
‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’. Let us all comply with all Covid-19 protocols to save ourselves and those next to us. My prayers are with those families who are, or have been affected by the Covid-19 virus in whatever form and those whose family members have succumbed to it. God Bless.
