Charities win big at Slots Factor Tournament

Local charities and community organisations were the big winners at the Slots Factor Tournament Charity event on Wednesday.

The event was held at Jozi’s award-winning entertainment destination in the South, Gold Reef City. Through the event, Tsogo Sun wanted to give back to the community in a fun and entertaining way.

Top Mzansi celebs and media personalities gambled for a good course which benefited 14 community organisations from Soweto and surrounding areas.

Three of them got R10 000 each won by their celebrity and media representatives.

Television and theatre star Atandwa Kani was playing for the Orlando West based Tutti Music Initiative.

After all the fun and games Kani had, Tutti Music walked away with a fat R10 000 cheque. Osborn Mnganga from Tutti Music couldn’t contain his excitement about the win.

“We are very Thankful to Togo Sun for the money we got today. It came at a right time because we are looking at buying new equipment and instruments,” said Mnganga.

Tutti Music specialises in teaching young people from across Soweto writing, reading and playing music.

Tsogo Sun made sure that every organisation present on the day walks away a winner even if their representatives didn’t win.

Kliptown based The Nia Project and Makasana Community Development from Naledi were some of the organisations which benefited with R3000 from the charity event.

The Nia Projects deals with youth development and is in a process of setting up a learning centre in Kliptown.

Natasha Job from the Nia Projects said the money they got was a blessing from god.

“This is going to help us a lot as we are currently in a process of applying for land where we want to set up our offices. Thanks to Togo Sun for making this possible,” said job.

Tshepo Moeletsi from Makasana said it was a privilege for them to be part of the event.

“I think they should do this more often because it’s actually empowering not just charity organisations but communities. So we thank Togo Sun for what they have done for us,” said Moeletsi.

Makasana runs projects which focus on mental and physical fitness in Mndeni. They do aerobics and workout sessions for the young and old.

They also do after school mathematics and English tutoring for pupils who attend local schools.

Mike Page, director of operations and complex manager at Gold Reef City said the event was meant to be a fun way of helping the needy.

He said writing a cheque for a charity organisation would have been boring hence they invited celebrities and media people to bring the fun to the event.

“As Tsogo Sun we associate a lion’s share of our spent with specific projects. We have a variety of projects which focus on sport and art.

“We always try to make our contributions to our communities as meaningful as possible while working with the media and celebrities,” said Page.

Some of the notable faces at the event were Zola Hashatsi, Austin Shandu and members of hip hop group Dream Team.

@MzwaJourno