Nic Haralambous published one of Sheena’s fake articles

Posted on April 29th, 2008 by Richard Catto 2,797 views

Nic Haralambous, editor of SA Rocks, recently published one of Sheena Gates’ articles which is completely fake.

Her article begins with:

I was leaving for Australia. I had my bags packed, my tickets ready and my family there waiting for me. Then one morning I woke up and thought ‘what the hell am I doing?’. I love Africa. I love my country and its people. There are things in this place that only we could ever understand, such as:

I brought these obvious lies to his attention by posting a comment, but instead of responding, he simply deleted my comment.

Unfortunately, it seems that Sheena Gates, by virtue of her strong personality, has wormed her way into the good books of many South African bloggers and she is abusing their trust by supplying them with lies.

Here is the comment I made on sarocks:

Nic, I submit to you that this story written by Sheena Gates that you published is wholly false.

The entire story rests on whether the reasons Ms Gates has furnished are true or mere embellishments of her creative imagination.

Were her bags really packed? Or is that a fabrication? Did she indeed possess airplane tickets to Australia? Is she in possession of a valid passport? More importantly, did she possess a visa permitting her entry into Australia?

I submit to you that Ms Gates is lacking in at least one of the above requirements. I believe that she does not possess any visa allowing her entry into Australia. That being the case, one can deduce that neither were her bags packed nor is she in possession of airplane tickets.

The rest of her article is fanciful nonsense as can be discerned by most readers.

Ms Gates has expressed diametrically opposite views of South Africa in the past, lamenting the crime and lack of job opportunities here. At the time, she expressed a firm resolve to emigrate to Australia.

Ms Gates writes articles containing superficial nonsense which she often contradicts later.

Ms Gates has previously sought employment on cruise liners, but her application was declined. She has also expressed the firm conviction that she wishes to travel and live and work outside of South Africa.

No doubt the real reasons for her currently choosing to reside in South Africa have absolutely nothing to do with the ridiculous reasons she furnished us with in her article.

I recommend that no-one take Ms Gates’ opinions seriously.

I am one of those old fashioned people who believe that bloggers have the same responsibility to the truth as journalists do. It grieves me when I see people such as Sheena Gates publishing rank absurdities and then managing to rope in someone such as Nic Haralambous who is a journalist himself for The Financial Mail.

I believe that Nic Haralambous owes his readers an apology for his collusion in Ms Gates’ deception.

UPDATE: According to his personal blog, Nic Haralambous has taken up a position with The Mail & Guardian. His last working day with The Financial Mail was May 9 2008. He will start with M&G on May 19.

Some wag, by the name of Wesley, cheekily asked him, "Is it true that you got fired from Financial Mail because you reported on that fake story by Sheena Gates?"

I doubt it.

UPDATE II: Sarah Britten just blogged on Thought Leader that she’s moved to Australia to take up a new position there. At least, we can trust Thought Leader not to publish bullshit.

Tags: Fake blogger, Nic Haralambous, SA Rocks, Sheena Gates
Filed under Nic Haralambous, Sheena Gates | 126 Comments »