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The Plot to Destroy Lotus FM is the title of a startling dossier compiled by staff in June. Charl Blignaut investigates its allegations of sexual harassment, sabotage, favouritism, unfair dismissal and ‘capture’ of the station by a cartel
It has been another dramatic week at the country’s premier Indian radio station.
On Wednesday, former drive-time presenter Mishka Gounden brought a R1.5 million civil defamation claim against former Lotus FM presenter Fahim Jamadar, accusing him of soliciting and then publicly sharing sexy private videos that led to her dismissal and a suicide attempt after she was relentlessly sex shamed.
Jamadar says he will be opposing the matter and strongly denies the claims, as does Naufal Khan, the editor of website Indian Spice, against whom Gounden is seeking a harassment order over an article on allegations that the videos were used as a sex-for-jobs ploy at the station.
More compromising photos
Meanwhile, new WhatsApp messages seen by City Press surfaced this week involving Jamadar and photos of another woman – former star Lotus presenter Vanessa Govender.
In the July conversation between Govender and Khan ahead of the launch of her book, Beaten But Not Broken, Govender writes that Jamadar has compromising photos of her.
In her book, Govender details her five-year relationship with a former Lotus FM jock in which she was severely abused.
After their break-up, the man allegedly called her mother and threatened to release the photos. She declined to comment this week,
But Jamadar denies he was ever Govender’s boyfriend, despite five well-placed sources telling City Press they knew that the two were in a turbulent romantic relationship.
Khan denies he raised the photos as a veiled threat, telling City Press he did so “in solidarity with [Govender] as a #MeToo reporter”.
Gounden’s lawyer, Yugan Naidu, says she is suing the SABC for the balance of her contract with Lotus “as it was unlawfully terminated” and for bringing the broadcaster into disrepute.
The dossier
An explosive dossier, titled The Plot to Destroy Lotus FM, was compiled in June by almost three quarters of the permanent staff and several freelancers then working at Lotus FM.
The dossier contains accusations that station manager Alvin Pillay runs it like a “dictatorship”, enabled by the head of SABC radio’s digital media strategy Carlito Sheikh.
City Press understands that Sheikh is on suspension for sharing internal Lotus FM strategy plans with Jamadar.
The dossier contains allegations that Sheikh and Jamadar conspired to bring Lotus FM to its knees in a bid to buy it cheaply. Jamadar strongly denies trying to hurt the station, calling the claims “ludicrous”.
SABC spokesperson Neo Momodu released a statement, saying: “Management is aware of the challenges that Lotus FM is facing, and necessary steps are being taken to ensure stability. These include the forensic investigation currently under way on various allegations at Lotus FM.
“The outcomes of the forensic investigation will shed light on the veracity of the challenges and claims made, and provide recommendations to management.”
The Lotus Three
Gounden is just one of many former Lotus staffers challenging the SABC.
This week, former programme manager Santosh Beharie took his case to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) after his contract was not renewed, after 10 years at the station.
The matter was postponed.
He says his contract was not renewed after he sent a letter to the SABC board warning of what was happening at Lotus.
The third member of the so-called Lotus 3 is popular former presenter and producer Shirdika Pillai, whose contract was not renewed after she emailed station manager Pillay, accusing him of unfairly promoting his favourite presenters.
Sexual harassment and other claims
The dossier details several sex abuse allegations against Pillay and other senior Lotus managers.
Claims against Pillay were made as early as 2013 by a female staffer who travelled with him and others.
Several staffers claimed that Pillay flirted with and touched the woman inappropriately. The dossier claims her internal complaint was quashed and her career stalled.
Another claim of verbal sexual harassment against Pillay came from a female Lotus presenter in 2014 after she was fired for dereliction of duty and took Lotus to the CCMA.
The dossier alleges Pillay is also protecting a senior manager and friend who exposed himself to a female Lotus staff member early this year.
Other claims include that Pillay tried to get a staff member to spy on another; had another staffer’s locker broken into; and paid his favourite new presenters double what the others earned.
The ‘cartel’
The dossier names several senior SABC managers who, it claims, are protecting Pillay.
Several sources agree that Sheikh and Jamadar plotted to purge staff so that Jamadar could be given a senior position at Lotus, and, together with Sheikh, then take over the station.
Khan vehemently denies this, but Jamadar says it was no secret that he believed Lotus FM should be privatised and that he was the man to revive it.
In WhatsApp messages between Sheikh and Jamadar included in the dossier, Sheikh writes: “Wait till I get there and turn the place upside down ... I’m going to come to you at some point during the takeover of Lotus to invest in a private stake ... For now it’s good to let the station die out with them.”
An email from Sheikh to Pillay recommends that favoured presenters be placed on the 2018 line-up, including Jamadar.
Another email raises the option of Jamadar being recruited to Lotus FM management, and two sources said Jamadar boasted he would replace Beharie at Lotus.
Jamadar told City Press he was no longer interested in the job.
The dossier claims that the cartel was using the website, Indian Spice, to sow discord and scandal around Pillay’s opponents.
This week’s WhatsApps appear to support this.
Khan writes of Beharie: “Hahaha I got him out the F*ck.” And of Pillay: “My next target is Alvin ... Once that man is out we can look at the station being revived.”
And of Gounden’s assault claims: “She is concocting that to add fuel to her story.”
But in the messages, Khan denies trying to get Jamadar back at Lotus.
Khan was outraged when City Press put the cartel claims to him, saying he is a member of the Lotus community wishing “to put an end to the declining listenership and the rot and especially the sexual abuse”, and nothing more.
IFP tried to raise alarm
The dossier was also sent to Inkatha Freedom Party MP Liezl van der Merwe, who says she raised it with SABC management and took it to Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane.
“It has become patently clear that the mismanagement of the radio station has led to the victimisation of three former freelance staff members, whose only crime was to speak out against decisions they felt were not in the best interests of the radio station,” Van der Merwe said.
Mokonyane’s spokesperson did not respond to queries.
