Hip-hop curator and Back to the City organiser Osmic Menoe has endured a barrage of online a acks over allegations that he does not pay his staff .
This comes after a series of tweets from an unknown account – OohSoNewSA – were splashed, labelling Menoe as “dodgy” for not fulfilling his commitment to pay his employees.
According to the faceless social media user, Menoe allegedly hired a group of researchers to work on the Hennessy Wall of Fame, which was unveiled at the SA HipHop Museum at Museum Africa last year.
The account holder did not respond to messages sent at the time of going to print. Menoe told Sunday World that this was not a smear campaign but “people being silly”. He neither confirmed nor denied plans to take legal action.
“On social media, people know they can write something, and then the media will entertain it, it’s almost like a game. Strange times,” said Menoe.
He dismissed claims that his employees were not paid. “Researchers were paid before the research even started last year,” he said.
One of the researchers, Sihle Nyeleti, came to Menoe’s defence: “I would just like to confirm that Osmic paid us all what was due to us. He also provided resources for us to do the necessary research, That’s all I am going to say regarding this matter,” said Nyeleti.
Another researcher, Sabelo Mkhabela, squashed the claims and said: “I was one of the three researchers. We did get paid.”
