South Africa firm gets lottery licence

The Malawi government through the National Lotteries Board has licenced a South African lottery management firm, Gidani International, to run the Malawi National Lottery.

Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture, KondwaniNankhumwa handed over the licence to Gidani International chairman, Bongani Khumalo, at an event held at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe on Wednesday.

Nankhumwa said government would work to ensure that the interests of Malawians are protected and that the firm operates within the framework regulating the sector.

“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter. We will render all the necessary support to ensure that Gidani achieves all its objectives,” he said.

Receiving the licence, Khumalo pledged to help transform Malawi’s socio economic landscape and ensure rapid skills transfer to Malawians who will take up jobs at the firm.

He said the management and other members of staff of Gidani International will largely be Malawians.

“We will only deploy some [expatriate] experienced industry experts to provide training to them,” he said.

He said the national lottery will be launched in November this year with a jackpot of K100 million up for grabs.

Gidani is a black majority owned private company which also operates the South African National Lottery and prides itself for being the first lottery operator to offer 34 percent of its revenue to good causes since South Africa introduced the national lottery in 1999.

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