Siya Beyile accused of not paying model

Siya Beyile has been accused of not paying a model used during his Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week shows earlier this year.

This comes a day after admitting he was making his company smaller due to his depression battle.

The model, Luke van der Burg, alleged that Siya’s company, The Threaded Man hired her to work for them at the fashion week in August. The company allegedly promised her transport home and R500 per day.

She however claims that after agreeing to the terms and working at the show, Siya did not honour his agreement.

“Our contract said that we would be paid within 24 hours of each show day. We all sent our invoices in on Monday or Tuesday after the last show on Saturday. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday all came and we had not been paid. We actually had to ask where our money was and we were told that some people had issues with their invoices. So we all ended up sending our invoices twice and we waited until we asked again,” she said on social media.

Siya’s team took her in circles before saying the company had not been paid by Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week organisers and could thus not pay her.

Siya allegedly threatened her not to complain on social media as no one would want to work with her in future. Luke further alleged that Siya messaged her telling her to delete all of her social media comments about the incident or he would sue her for defamation.

The Threaded Man issued a statement.

They admitted they were under “strain” and asked for patience as they worked to sort out the situation.

“As The Threaded Man we are aware of the accusations made against us. We have been very open and honest about our difficulties. We have been very transparent with all our parties involved and asked for their patience as we go through this very difficult process. This has not only affected those outside the business, but internal affairs have been greatly strained as well.

“It has never been our mission to negatively affect any of our collaborators as it stands against every fibre of what we believe in. Through all our strains as a growing company we value our collaborators and we will do whatever it takes to make sure we get through this,” the statement read.