South African tycoons Mark and Brett Levy's Blu Label stays silent on Ticketpro buyers

Blu Label Unlimited, the Johannesburg-listed group run by Mark and Brett Levy, sold the sport and events business of its ticketing subsidiary Ticketpro for R5 million, but neither the company nor the buyers will disclose who now owns it, according to a follow-up to an investigation published this week.

The investigation found that the buyer, a women-owned empowerment consortium, has links to the political circle of Sport Minister Gayton McKenzie. Bakang Lethoko, McKenzie's former chief of staff, became Ticketpro's chief executive in June after Blu Label sold the business in May.

Blu Label explained that Ticketpro had previously been made up of two separate businesses. None of the parties to the deal was willing to provide details of the new ownership structure. Blu Label has cited confidentiality provisions in the sale agreement. Its annual financial statements separately record a net outflow of R35 million linked to the disposal.

The former CEO says he didn't know

Brandon Duffield, Ticketpro's previous chief executive, said he had no idea that Lethoko and the other people involved in the takeover were linked to McKenzie and his Patriotic Alliance party. Duffield was among three Blu Label executives who stepped down as Ticketpro directors in June.

The new holding company, Ticketpro Group, has three directors: Astrid Harrison, Omphemetse Mokgosi and Zanele Dube. Harrison has described herself as a Patriotic Alliance member, and McKenzie appointed Mokgosi to the boards of the National Film and Video Foundation and the National Arts Council.

McKenzie, his party and the new owners have denied any wrongdoing, and the investigation found no evidence that McKenzie intervened in the sale.

Opposition parties demand answers

The deal has drawn political fire. The Democratic Alliance, the Economic Freedom Fighters and ActionSA have all demanded answers. "The same people who sit around the minister now sit at the center of a company positioned to profit from the sports bodies his department oversees," the EFF said.

Ticketpro sells tickets for Cricket South Africa and the South African Football Association, and appears set to handle ticketing for the 2027 Men's Cricket World Cup.

The Levy brothers founded Blu Label in 2001 and built it into one of South Africa's largest distributors of prepaid airtime and electricity. Last week, they bought R75.5 million of Blu Label shares.