Eastern Cape gets 17% cut of National Lottery funds

Over R1,48-billion has been paid out to beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape since the National Lotteries Board (NLB) started distributing funds in 2002.

In the 2013 financial year the province received R154 million in grants to a wide range of organisations, according to NLB spokesperson Sershan Naidoo.

Speaking at a media briefing in the NLB’s new offices in East London, Naidoo said the province had received on average nearly 18% of the R2 billion a year the board has to distribute.

This is the fourth-highest percentage after Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu/Natal.

Around 253 million Lotto tickets were bought in the Eastern Cape during 2013, according to NLB chief executive officer Charlotte Mampane.

The province has had 34 Lotto millionaires since 2002.

Sectors which qualify for funding include Arts, Culture and National Heritage, Sport and Recreation, Charities, and Miscellaneous.

Some of the biggest beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape include the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown (R50 million since 2002), the Afrikaanse Christelike Vroue Vereniging (ACVV) in Port Elizabeth (6,7 million since 2002), The Port Elizabeth Opera House (R4,4 million), Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (R4,4 million), Mthatha Child and Family Welfare Society (R2,7 million), Nazareth House Port Elizabeth (R3,2 million), and the Knysna/Sedgefield Hospice (R3,2 million).

“We are particularly proud to be associated with the launch of the first record label in the province,” said Mampane. ECAVC Records was launched in the Miriam Makeba Centre for the Performing Arts in East London, which was also financed by a National Lotteries Board grant.

Numerous smaller organisations received grants ranging from R40 000, according to Naidoo.

Mampane says the NLB sends teams into the field to ensure that the funds are being properly spent. She told the audience of over one thousand provincial beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries that the NLB had received “sad” reports of fraud and corruption from the compliance teams. She urged everyone to report suspected cases of fraud and misuse of funds and equipment to the NLB’s toll-free hotline 0800 012 013. Another area of fraud identified by the NLB is people claiming to be agents and who fraudulently charge for the submission of applications.

The board had opened offices in East London to help applicants to fill in their forms correctly.

The East London team also went out into the rural areas to hold workshops.

Steps are being taken to speed up the response to applications.

The main challenge lies in the sheer volumes, according to Naidoo. “In the last national call 14 500 applications requesting R40 billion were received. And our budget is two billion,” he says.

Some of the processing work will now be done by regional offices such as the one in East London, according to Mampane.

Author: Christena Crause from Siyathetha Communications.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SiyathethaCommunications?ref=ts&fref=ts

Submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.