Durban - Former Miss South Africa Basetsana Kumalo took to social media to distance herself from a weight-loss scam that is doing the rounds.
The scam ads use before and after images of her and other international celebrities to show the product is effective.
Called Garcinia Cambogia Direct, the company sells slimming tablets using celebrities such as Kate Middleton, Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé, and now Kumalo.
They hook readers with sensational headlines like: “Basetsana bewilders the nation with a shocking emotional confession”.
When readers click on the link, they are taken through a story about the pills the businesswoman supposedly used to lose weight.
One headline-grabbing advert reads: “Basetsana Kumalo Exposed: How she lost over 20 pounds (9kg) of stomach fat in just 1 month.”
This is followed by a series of pictures showing how she gradually shed the weight.
Then a caption reads: “Let’s face it. Basetsana Kumalo is still smokin’ hot. She struts around the beach in bikinis built for a 20-year-old and rocks the red carpet in a tight gown.
“For years, we were told it was simply her hard work and dedication to Zumba. She was outed after dropping a bottle of Garcinia Cambogia Direct at the airport yesterday, the super supplements that Doctor Oz has called the ‘holy grail to weight loss’.”
Last year Kumalo’s lawyers managed to track down the company in Arizona, and it apologised for using her pictures.
This year again, her attorneys have sent a letter demanding that the company refrain from using the trademarks Basetsana and Basetsana Kumalo.
This week, taking to social media to distance herself from the slimming products, Kumalo said: “It only came to my attention (that the company was still using my picture and name) last Sunday. It is very disturbing and upsetting. They did the same thing last year, but my attorneys dealt with them. I was surprised to see it again this year.
“I am only getting involved in this matter because it involves people’s health. I am the mother of a daughter. Young women look up to me and I have a responsibility to inspire them in a positive way,” said the mother of three.
“Can you imagine girls saying,‘If auntie Bassie is doing it, I am also doing it? It is wrong that they prey on people’s vulnerabilities,” she said.
Kumalo said this after asking her followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter not to buy into the notion that a person could lose so much weight in one month, as the advert claims.
“There are no short cuts to weight loss. There is no magic potion. You have to put in the time. How could I have taken the pills for the past 18 months? I was breastfeeding my daughter.”
Kumalo said consumers needed to be discerning when it came to information on social media.
“I was told one person tried the pills and they made her sick. Another person gave them her credit card details and did not receive the products. How can you take pills without knowing what is in them?”
Asked how she had lost weight, she said: “It has been a work in progress. I had my children late in life and I want to be the kind of mom who is active and present in their lives.
“That is the reason I went on a health programme. The aesthetics are a by-product.”
- Sunday Tribune