Former Mrs SA contestant wins access to financial reports
A former Mrs SA contestant, who had demanded transparency, has won a court battle for access to the financial reports of the pageant’s affiliate, Women4Women (W4W).
A TimesLIVE report notes that Chandrè Goosen-Joubert from Cape Town approached the Western Cape High Court in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) when W4W director Cindy Nell-Roberts refused to provide the financial documents for 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Nell-Roberts argued that Goosen-Joubert brought the application for an ulterior motive and had embarked on a social media smear campaign against her and the organisation.
Last June Mrs SA and its owner, Joanie Johnson, failed to silence Goosen-Joubert with an urgent interdict after she had posted on social media about the contestants having to spend thousands to participate and called for transparency.
The court heard Goosen-Joubert studied the W4W bank statements and noticed funds were used for personal accounts such as school fees, a personal trainer, phone app subscriptions and Nell-Roberts’ daughter’s birthday party.
Judge BP Mantame said in his judgment: ‘A suggestion that the applicant abused the procedures set out in Paia for the purpose of obtaining pre-action discovery is groundless and unsubstantiated.’
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
