Times Of Swaziland: GAMING BOARD HANDS CAR DRAW ISSUE TO COPS GAMING BOARD HANDS CAR DRAW ISSUE TO COPS ================================================================================ By Thembinkosi Mavimbela on 12/01/2019 08:55:00 MBABANE – It seems the Gaming Board was not blowing hot air when it said heads would roll in the Kwazi Foundation saga. The Board’s Secretary, Hermon Motsa confirmed in an interview yesterday that the board had discovered certain troubling issues regarding the raffle draw and thus saw the need to hand over the matter to the police Fraud Department. Motsa said the Board decided to hand over the issue to police because there were serious issues that needed to be handled by the law enforcement agency. “I can fully confirm that the police are handling the matter,” Motsa said. Motsa declined to go into detail with the matter as it was being handled by police. however, he explained that the Kwazi Foundation was never given permission to run the raffle draw. permission He said another foundation was given the approval to do so after it applied and was granted permission. The name of the foundation is known to this publication but it has been deliberately withheld as its directors could not be found for comment. Motsa said their work was guided by the Lotteries Act, 1963 and the Lotteries Control Regulations, 2016. He said he could not divulge further information about the matter as they had handed it over to the police. confirmed Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed that the matter was brought to their attention. Vilakati said at the moment, only an inquiry was opened. Impeccable sources explained that the Board only learnt through local media that the raffle draw was run by the Kwazi Foundation. They said the Board took swift action and wrote to concerned parties, instructing them to stop the competition as the foundation (Kwazi Foundation) under which it was run had not been given permission to do so. That instruction was seemingly not adhered to as the competition proceeded until December when the alleged draw was held. Section 18 of the Lotteries Act states that, “All draws shall be conducted in public under the supervision of a person designated by the minister and, with the approval of the minister, may be conducted at or in conjunction with a public function.” previous In a previous interview, the Founder of the Kwazi Foundation, Kwazi Masuku said during their fund-raising campaigns, they had a container where people left their duplicate tickets hence on the day of the draw, that container was brought forward before the public who came to witness the draw at the Manzini Bus Rank next to the Police Post. Masuku explained that the ‘MC’ of the day asked the ticket holders who came to witness the draw to choose a person of their choice to do the draw – someone who would be a total stranger to them. He narrated that a young boy estimated to be around 10 years was chosen and he came forward with an unidentified lady. He said a third man was asked to raffle the tickets before the boy, who was blindfolded, chose the winning ticket. According to Section 9 (1) of the Lotteries Control Regulations 2016, the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs has the power to cancel or revoke a licence after considering that there is sufficient ground for that. This, according to the regulations, has to be done in writing and the licence holder, clearly stating the grounds of revocation. The licensee then has to write back to the minister and indicate whether he or she wishes to do an oral representation. gathered Information gathered was to the effect that conducting a raffle draw in the country was done through writing to the secretary of the Gaming Board. In the letter, the promoter has to sate how the competition will be conducted, where the draw will be held and who would eventually benefit in the event it is for charity. It was reliably gathered that the letter should paint a clear picture of the whole competition. It was also gathered that the Gaming Board then meets to deliberate on whether or not to grant permission to the applicant to run the competition. In the event the Board is not satisfied with the details on the letter or needs further clarification, it then invites the promoter to make a verbal presentation of how the competition will be conducted. According to Section 10 (1) (a) and (b) of the Lotteries Act, 1963, an application for registration of a society shall be made to the regional administrator in whose region the head office of such society is situated; and, specify the purposes for which such society is established and conducted. Manzini Regional Administrator (RA) Prince Gcokoma said although the practice was that people from his region who formed foundations registered with his office first; he did not recall any representative of the Kwazi Foundation engaging his office.