POLOKWANE – A man who claimed to be employed by the Northern Media Group (NMG) ran up a bill of nearly R14 000 at a guesthouse in the city.
The man allegedly claimed to work for the Capricorn Voice, a sister publication of Review, and requested the bill to be forwarded to the paper’s “corporate account”.
The owner of the guesthouse did not verify his claims with NMG, and only found out that the man did not work for NMG after sending the invoice.
According to the manager of the guesthouse, she contacted the man about the unpaid bill some weeks ago. He said he would call her back but did not do so. When she tried to contact him again, his phone was disconnected. A criminal case in this regard was opened.
NMG also opened a case of fraud against the man, who called himself Alfred Malebe. Malebe had an edition of a newspaper called Capricorn Mail printed at NMG’s printing works in May last year. He allegedly submitted a fraudulent proof of payment, that reflected a payment of R9 000 to NMG.
Review spoke to a journalist who worked for Malebe’s Capricorn Mail. The journalist did not wish to be identified, but said Malebe did not pay her. He just informed her that “the contract had come to an end” as there was no more work and he could not pay her.
Two other former employees declined to speak to Review, as did a man who did some courier work for Malebe.
Review tried in vain to contact Malebe for comment, but the phone was either not answered, or disconnected when the person who answered heard was on the line.
Capricorn Mail’s Facebook page still exists and a new post made its appearance on Wednesday.
The post, quoted verbatim, read: “All those who wants tender supply funding with intrest of 40%, we cession contrct,fast quick and easy please call Alfred on *** *** 5234 or *** *** call call call call call now”. (contact numbers edited).
The previous post was on November 16 last year, and simply states: “we will be back on printing soon (sic)”.
