JSE-listed horse racing and betting operator Phumelela Gaming and Leisure has launched an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court to interdict Busisiwefrom forcing the company to implement sweeping remedial action contained in a report released by the Public Protector in May 2019. The report is under review.
The Office of the Public Protector’s investigation into the horse racing industry began in 2012 when the then Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, received a complaint from the Africa Race Group Limited, claiming maladministration and improper conduct as a consequence of a 1997 Memorandum of Understanding between the horse racing industry in Gauteng and the Gauteng Provincial Government.
In 2013 a member of the Gauteng Gambling Board’s horse racing committee lodged a third complaint, alleging that there had been no transformation in the horse racing industry, a condition that was a violation of the 1997 MOU. The company also invoked its right to question witnesses who had provided the Public Protector with evidence. The Public Protector did not afford Phumelela the opportunity to do so.
The company then requested the Public Protector to suspend the remedial action pending the outcome of the review in order to avoid “the institution of urgent proceedings”. Phumelela legal team states that the Constitution guaranteed “the doctrine of separation of powers which requires constitutionally established institutions not to intrude on the domain of other institutions. The Public Protector is not empowered to encroach on the exclusive powers of other constitutionally established institutions.”
It pointed out that in terms of section 104 of the Constitution, the legislative authority of a province is vested with the power to pass legislation for its province with regard to any matter within a functional area listed in Schedule 4.
The Public Protector, in her final report, directed the premier of the Gauteng Provincial Government and all other provincial premiers to ensure that the 50% levy paid to Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Ltd be withdrawn and transferred to the new suggested entity.Thoroughbred horse racing is licensed by and is conducted in six of the nine provinces in South Africa . Each of these six provinces is governed by its own provincial gambling legislation and the regulations thereto,” said Phumelela.
MarianneThamm At times it does matter who is saying what to who?
MarianneThamm This one is a never-ending source of soap opera fodder. Tragi-comedy.
when is she gonna do her work without political influence? she must look over her shoulder, the country is more divided
nesyhttam MarianneThamm It is a challenge but her competence it doesn't fit at all but we know your agenda
MarianneThamm “Remarkably, in a tweet, she attributed her defeat in the Absa litigation to ‘technicalities’. She makes precisely the same fundamental errors that our courts have held to be unlawful in these proceedings,” said Phumelela. PublicProtectorMkhwebane
MarianneThamm She must stop investigating the rich and powerful. Oh also stay away from anything concerning transformation then she will finish her term..... take it🙃 dont take it
MarianneThamm At this point, anyone who doesn't take her reports on review must be a raving idiot.
MarianneThamm It is no longer about law but the old order of Apartheid that was left untouched and alive. We imagined that we could get over Apartheid through cheap sloganeering, the mere invocation of Reconciliation—through silence and willed forgetfulness—indeed, by playing the ostrich