BUDDY NAIDU

THE Eastern Cape Gambling Board granted the controversial Wild Coast Sun Casino a 10-year licence renewal yesterday.

The decision has now set the board and the winning bidder, Sun International, on a collision course with King Mpondombini Sigcau, who has objected to how Sun International has historically been operating the casino.

The casino is three decades old and was started by casino magnate Sol Kerzner, who was alleged to have paid R2-million for the rights to former Transkei prime minister George Matanzima for exclusive gambling rights.

The current licence expires later this year, therefore the leisure group had to reapply. Sigcau claims that the Pondo community had been historically ripped off since the casino first opened and there were no spin-off benefits for the 2million people in the area, most of whom still live in poverty.

The king said a controversial 100-year lease agreement signed with the old Transkei meant that Sun International today only paid R60000 — or R5000 a month — for the pristine 660ha beachfront land.

He said the agreement led to 103 families of the Umgungundlovu community being displaced — and they have yet to be compensated.

Yesterday, a representative of the royal household, Gordon Ball, said the king’s lawyers were hoping to see what conditions had been attached to the licence. “The King will further consult with traditional structures as he raised serious objections about the renewal.”

Ball said the king objected on the basis that a renewal would be “anti competitive, financially prejudicial to the people of Pondoland and was cloaked in a bribery scandal”.

He said the king’s main aim was to “ensure the indigenous people of Pondoland benefit”.

“The gambling board have not answered many of our questions so we will see whether they have been tackled in the licence conditions.”

Ball said it was “real estate robbery” that such a big casino still paid a lease of R60000 a year.

He said a meeting had been scheduled later this month between the king, Sun International and the board.

Acting chief executive of the board, Menzi Mbina, said the king’s objections were “addressed in the overall licence conditions”.

Mbina said the signing of the lease was “outside of their jurisdiction” and was thus “not able to comment on the fairness or lack thereof”.

Regarding the lack of financial spin-offs for the area, Mbina said “community empowerment must arise from the licence”. He said to this end Sun International had formed a partnership with the Mbizana Development Trust, listed as a shareholder, to effect this.

However, he admitted there were “question marks” over it and “the way in which it empowers the community”.

“What I can say is that it was created to engage in projects to uplift the community.”

Asked whether the Pondo people actually benefited from the casino, he said: “I am unable to give a view on that.” Yet all around the Wild Coast Sun casino, people lived in abject poverty, with very few prospects of improving their livelihoods.

Late last year, during hearings for the licence, a Sun International spokesman said the community stood to benefit by R200-million through the licence renewal.

Source: The Times