South African fashion designer David Tlale made his statement regarding the alleged claims of one of his former employees, Zack who goes by mrzackiekins on Instagram.
Zack claims that the fashion designer sexually abused him along with taking advantage of him financially.
While talking to The South African, David Tlale said the following:
“Some very serious and quite damning allegations levelled against me and my professional brand have surfaced over the weekend. These allegations are categorically false and only seek to cause me serious harm and also seek to undermine the lived experiences of those who are real victims of sexual assault of any nature,” he said while speaking to The South African.
“While I consult with my internal team of experts on this matter, this shall be the first and only comment on this issue until I am advised otherwise,” he continued.
Zack who was David’s former protégé went on Instagram and wrote a lengthy post about how he was allegedly sexually abused by the designer while he was allegedly under the disguise of being a mentor.
“This man with ulterior motives got Close to me at 21 years of age while working for AFI South Africa and forges a friendship,” he started off saying that’s how and where they met.
He continues by saying, “I was charmed and inspired by him. A role model to me at the time, and to cut the long story short, he drugged and sexually abused me, he then exploited me of my skills during the pandemic. He would ask I write him pressers, sponsorship proposals and other strategies/copy, promise to pay me, often in clothing but wouldn’t actually, and when I’d remind him, he’d get defensive and gaslight me,” he continued.
“He later offered me a job as his PR & Comms Manager at my most vulnerable, I think two weeks out of rehab, unemployed – he played around my desperation for purpose, tricked me down 66% (I calculated) less than what both he and I knew I was worth at the time, gaslit me and lied to make me believe he had bigger plans for me in his brand, continued to use me, commented on my body and weight gains in the office during my most insecure days when I was literally gaining weight daily. A side effect from my depression medication and then he tried so hard to crush my self esteem and confidence,” Zack added.
He ended his statement by saying he will never work in the fashion industry ever again due to the incident which allegedly occurred.
“I left his brand after 3 months working for him and swore never to work in the fashion media industry again. A passion and a vacation of mine.”
“It took me almost 2 years to realised that I didn’t deserve any of that. To fully understand that it was in fact sexual assault. That I was taken advantage of and just how pure my intentions were. I was young fragile. And since this realization I have been trying myself to an unhealthy sleeping routine and have told no one until my family this morning.”
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Zack has been dragging the media ever since he released the shocking revelations which he alleges he went through.
