Miss SD Committee now worried about probe

MBABANE - As the probe into the operations of the Miss Swaziland contest nears completion, the pageant’s Committee now feels it is not good.

This comes after they failed to appear before the probe last week Thursday.
The pageant director Vinah Mamba-Gray has maintained that the whole pageant is under her company V103 Promotions and thus no one has a right to probe it.

She said she has no problem in being made answerable for anything but is concerned with the fact that the Swaziland Council of Arts and Culture never put any cent into the pageant.
“I’m surprised as to how someone who has never put any cent can then decide to probe me. Anyway I will wait for them to finish but I maintain that this is my private company,” she said.

When contacted the pageant’s spokesperson (PRO),  Rhedora Isaacs was asked why they allowed the probe in the first place if they felt that the pageant is Mamba-Gray’s company, she mentioned that at first they decided to agree to it because they thought SNCAC wanted to help but now they can see that it’s not the case.

“We had no problem at first I admit it was a mistake but we thought we must allow people when they want to help us. It’s only now that we realise that they do not have good intentions at all.
“We have seen that something is not right with this thing which is why we didn’t attend when they called us the second time,” she said.

She mentioned that they realised that all was not right when the probe team demanded a lot of things including some financial records which they feel are a private issue of the company.
She said what has happened has made them feel that perhaps the only reason for the probe is that SNCAC wants to take everything from Mamba yet she has a passion for the pageant.

SNCAC Chairman Prince Lonkhokhela said his office is probing Miss Swaziland and does not care about anyone’s company.
“We are probing the operations of a national pageant and just in case a certain company is part of it, we will definitely probe it too.

“What I’m trying to say is that no one must hide under a company’s name. It’s called Miss Swaziland and not Miss V103 so we have the right to probe it. It’s the probe that will also explain to the public as to why the pageant belongs to a person’s company in the first place,” he said.