Harassment, death threat allegations fuel bitter feud
ALLEGATIONS of unpaid fees, blackmail, death threats, a case of harassment and a looming court battle have emerged in the bitter feud between modelling agency boss and former Port Elizabeth model Shashi Naidoo and male model Lindile Ntabeni.
Ntabeni, 42, of Johannesburg, claims Naidoo owes him approximately R45 000 for an advert he filmed five years ago while he was a member of Naidoo’s firm, Alushi Models. Naidoo, who has featured on FHM’s Sexiest Women in the World list, disputes this, claiming Ntabeni is “delusional” and has been paid every cent due to him.
The matter is set to go to the Port Elizabeth High Court, with Ntabeni claiming he has sent a letter of demand to Naidoo and Alushi Models. However, attempts to obtain this letter from Ntabeni have been unsuccessful.
But Naidoo said Ntabeni was essentially blackmailing her and had threatened her, and members of her staff and family, to such an extent that she had been forced to open a case of harassment against him.
“I am aware of the allegations. He is a bit mad. He shot this ad five years ago and we have paid him every single cent due to him.
“The problem is that he has changed his bank account about three times. He has even said that if I pay him R5 000 he will go away but we have kept all the records of payments made to him.”
Naidoo said Ntabeni had threatened to go to the media about his claims before.
“He makes these threats because I am a public person but I refuse to be blackmailed.
“But he keeps thumb-sucking the figure that is owed to him. If you are not owed any money then you are not owed any money. I am willing to spend R50 000 in court to prove this,” she said.
Naidoo said Ntabeni had arrived at the offices last year and had threatened members of her staff. “We have had to call the police and open a case of harassment.
“We have also increased security at our offices. He actually said he would send someone to have us killed. He is very delusional. Some of the staff were really scared.”
Alushi Models head booker Jeanine Jackson confirmed that she had been one of the staff members threatened by Ntabeni. She provided Weekend Post with Alushi’s payment history, which indicates that Ntabeni has been paid over R26 000 for the advert in question.
“He said he would send someone to kill us if he does not get his money. I have the e-mail from the ad agency and this proves that he has been paid. It is totally incorrect that he is still owed R45 000,” Jackson said.
She said Ntabeni had also made several loans from Naidoo.
Naidoo confirmed the personal loans to Ntabeni and said the firm had had to part ways with him after he stopped securing jobs.
“I have made so many advances to him but we cannot continue giving money away when nothing is coming in from his side because this is a business.
“I run a business that is super ethical and we have never had this kind of issue with another model. We actually pride ourselves and have a record of paying our models on time,” she said.
But Ntabeni, who was born and raised in Port Elizabeth, denied ever making death threats against any Alushi staff members.