MAKHADO – It came to the attention of the management of this newspaper that a man, who claims to be one of our reporters, is ripping off businesspeople in town.

Mr Adrian Carstens of Nando’s Makhado claimed that a man recently visited his outlet and promised to write an promotional article Nandos to be published in both Mirror and Zoutpansberger. “The staff members were over the moon when he asked them to pose for the photos that would accompany the article. We even gave him lunch, but to our regret, nothing was published,” he said.

Mr Carstens said he also gave the man an amount of money when he said he was raising funds for a family at Elim, whose house was burnt to ashes. He added that the man claimed that he was also a reporter for “South Africa’s biggest daily newspaper.”

A spokesperson for the Zoutnet-group of newspapers warned businesspeople to be aware of this practice. “This is not the way we operate and we never send correspondents out to do advertorials for businesses. All our correspondents carry an official press card and we publish their names in every edition of the paper. When you are in doubt about the behaviour of one of our correspondents, please phone the editor immediately,” he said.