Nexus Global - Live Launch Register

Response by bogus NEWS 24 Article

06/05/2018

Meanwood Strategic Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd - Official Statement.

On the 4^th of May 2018 at 2:29pm, an article was published on News24 by a reporter named Jean Le Roux. The article is titled Organiser charged R8 000 a ticket for conference with 'fake' list of speakers. Earlier on April 26^th 2018 we were contacted by the mentioned journalist for information regarding the same article referred to above. We sent him responses to the questions which he asked and to our astonishment the article was published with a lot of accusations and allegations (actual words used in the article).

The article is however not surprising to us, as we were earlier contacted and threatened by Dr. R. S. McKenzie who is the current chairman of the International Water Association: Water Loss Group. The association is hosting its biennial Water Loss Conference and Exhibition 2018 in Cape Town from May 6 to 9, 2018 according to the news 24 article it’s said to attract not less than 500 delegates from over 50 countries. Dr. McKenzie sent emails to our confirmed speakers and some have pulled out of our event for this reason. Our event titled Non-Revenue Water & Leak Detection Master Class 2018 is scheduled to run on 24^th-25^th May at Emperors palace in Kempton Park, Johannesburg (venue subject to confirmation). However, we have made a few changes to our speaker line up, these changes will be communicated in due course. We also further informed NEWS 24 that we do not give out detailed agreements we have with our speakers to 3rd parties as part of data protection .

Dr. Mackenzie accused our company of listing two of the speakers scheduled to speak at their event fraudulently on our marketing material and called our company a scam. However we have a communication trail between our company and the mentioned speakers which we shall make available to our legal team as we seek advice on the next course of action, as the mentioned speakers had agreed in principle.

One of the claims published is that 25 delegates have booked and paid R 8000 each for our event amounting to R200 000 total. These claims are false and we are hoping evidence of these bookings and payments is presented by the writer of the mentioned article.

Meanwood Strategic Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd has a fixed office address at 447 Vale Avenue, Ferndale, Randburg. It has occupied these premises for the last 3 years and we have run numerous events in different fields and has staff compliment of 10 South African nationals amongst other nationals. Our events have been attended by various organisations from the private sector as well as the public sector.  We have also enjoyed a lot of repeat business based on the quality of our work.

The company has been built on the vision of its founders and the commitment of its employees. The article makes mention (unnecessarily) that the owners of the business are Zambian nationals. The company is incorporated under the laws of the Republic of South Africa and adheres to the codes and ethics of the training industry. Our terms and conditions are not unique to our company they are identical to those of other international companies as well. 

 However with Malice , the Reporter went ahead and published the article to fulfill the waterbodies wishes. 

Knowledge is not an exclusive preserve of a few, no one owns the Intellectual Property of the subject matter of our events. The training industry is an empowering industry, who’s is aim is to bring knowledge coupled with experience to those in different industries. The laws of the Republic of South Africa encourage free enterprise and competition, provided all this is done within the confines of the law. Any complaints against us can be sent to us through the communication channels provided on our website. Where we are perceived to be conducting illegal practices the relevant law enforcement authorities can be contacted so that the law can be enforced.

We acknowledge the article was written in bad faith, with the sole aim of tarnishing our image. We do not take this matter lightly, we are currently seeking legal advice, and we shall take legal action against this intimidation.

Carol Chiyassa
Owner