Cape Town – Obvious Nyanda sold his computer and laptop to pay his staff after alleged scamster Craig Fegen refused to pay him for catering at a Vodashop commercial shoot in the city two weeks ago.
Nyanda worked as a chef for several years before launching his own company, Eat Out Film and TV caterers in October. His business was at a standstill and his dreams shattered, he said.
Nyanda divided the money from the belongings he sold, as well as a deposit of R10 000 from Fegen, between his 12 staff members who worked on the shoot. He still owes them money and also owes the transport company he hired.
Fegen owes him R30 000, Nyanda said, and learnt he was one of many in the same boat as his is one of 20 film-related businesses which have allegedly been scammed by Fegen and his business partner David Brenton.
Kitisha Gagliana, a foreigner specialising in props, has lost her love for South Africa due to Brenton and Fegen “walking away with her money”, said her associate, who did not want to be named.
“They couldn’t do the job and pulled out. I have known David and Craig for 12 years and they can make Eskimos sell ice to themselves".
Linsay Shuttleworth, from Topco Models, who said she was scammed of R50 000 in artists’ fees, has warned her film contacts not to work with Brenton and Fegen.
“This skulduggery must be stopped in our industry. It gives us such a bad name. I have spoken to the client in Berlin – Grand Hotel Pictures. They claimed to have paid him (Brenton) in full, and we should have been settled last week,” she said.
Lisa Mackay, owed R7 000 in petty cash, said: “Their ability to lie with straight and smiling faces means they are both sociopaths and cannot be trusted, no matter how big the sob story.”
Brenton insisted he intended paying his debts. “I will do everything I can to get these suppliers paid as soon as possible. They have destroyed me and my ability to work.”
However, he said Nyanda had supplied terrible food, and accused Gagliana of leaving local producers in debt, saying she shouldn’t be allowed back into the country. About Mackay, he said: “I can’t remember a petty cash issue from a decade ago”.
He also dismissed Topco Models’s concerns: “I just brought the job to SA and gave it to them as I can no longer work in the film business.”