Tag Archives: Oprah Winfrey

SA Butler Academy apologises to 2019 student Lin Yang, and to refund her costs by court order!

In 2019 I met Lin Yang, a Singaporean who studied at the South African Butler Academy at what it claimed to be a world class institution, given the marketing promises made on its website. She was expelled from the course on the third day of her studies, allegedly due to being late for her classes. She was not refunded her course fees , and headed to our High Court on a three year journey to obtain her fees and costs back.

After her experience with the SA Butler Academy she embarked on extensive research about the training institution, evaluating its website in the English and Chinese webpages, its brochure, and any other communication about the institution on Google. She interacted with close to 90 other students of the institution, receiving input from them, finding that there were a large number of similar experiences.

In doing so, she found my 2013 Blogpost about the SA Butler Academy and its misleading marketing, which I had discovered by analysing its website, after I had a bad experience with a student of the institution as a short-lived guest house employee.

The SA Butler Academy grossly misleads its students and hospitality industry clients!

My 2013 Blogpost visibility arose from the number of students who have found it on the first page of Google when one searches ‘SA Butler Academy’, despite intensive attempts by the institution to fill its space with links and videos as to push my Blogpost further down onto page 2 or even lower. My Blogpost doggedly remains on on page one of Google, even ten years later!

Miss Lin and I met, and since then we have remained in touch. She refers SA Butler Academy students who have problems with the institution to my SA Butler Academy Blogposts, including the 2013 one. In the past three years Miss Lin has been determined to find any avenue to evaluate the truthfulness or not of the SA Butler Academy claims made on its website. She found, for example, that :

*. SA Butler Academy owner Newton Cross had not been the Butler of the late President Mandela, as claimed. Miss Lin reported this to the Mandela Foundation, which pressurised the institution to remove his name from its website.

*. Miss Lin was shocked that a photograph of her and a classmate was used on the Academy website for publicity purposes, despite only attending two days of the course and being a litigant against the Academy.

*. She discovered that the SA Butler Academy could not provide proof for the following claims made by the institution on its website:

#. That its courses are accredited

#. That it has proof of its claim of ‘No. 1 Butler School in the World’

#. That SA Butler Academy owner Newton Cross holds a claimed qualification from the ’Buckingham Palace Butler School’

#. Newton Cross’ claim that he worked as a Butler on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship, when he in fact was merely a waiter.

#. That Newton Cross has worked as a Butler, as claimed, for Former President Bill Clinton, Former President Bush Senior, Former President Mbeki, the late President Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, golfer Tiger Woods, and a number of other celebrities.

#. The partner businesses SA Butler Academy and Guild Recruitment jointly misled students: the SA Butler Academy promised students that they would receive jobs via its Guild Recruitment. Guild Recruitment would advertise Butler jobs, encouraging prospective applicants to do the SA Butler Academy course if they were not already a student or graduate of the institution.

Miss Lin also lodged complaints with the following authorities :

*. The City of Cape Town, for a building accommodating the SA Butler Academy students whilst on the course (students were forced to use the overcrowded accommodation and were charged an additional fee), in violation of a City by-law to use private accommodation for commercial purposes.

*. The Equality Court, which became a directional hearing, and advised that it was not the correct forum for her to claim the funds owed.

*. The National Consumer Commission, where she and 22 other past students of the SA Butler Academy have a class action against the institution.

*. As her residential address and photograph were published on the SA Butler Academy website, Miss Lin approached the POPI (Protection of Personal Information) Regulator to lodge a complaint.

*. Carte Blanche, to whom she and other fellow students reported the matter, and in November 2020 Derek Watts interviewed Miss Lin and I about the misleading marketing claims made by the SA Butler Academy on its website, followed by the broadcast in December 2020. This was a powerful step forward for Miss Lin, yet the institution persevered in not refunding her the course fees. A large number of students interacted with Miss Lin after this exposé on Carte Blanche.

https://www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog/cape-town/carte-blanche-exposes-sa-butler-academy-marketing-deception-first-exposed-on-whaletales-blog-in-2013

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100068498080492

Given the amount of pressure which Miss Lin was placing on the SA Butler Academy, the institution created a page of disparagement on its website, defaming her and claiming that she had mental issues. I too have the ‘honour’ of featuring on such a page on the institution’s website, a rage reaction about the high ranking of my 2013 Blogpost, hoping that it would diminish the credibility of my 2013 Blogpost, which obviously has impacted on the credibility of the SA Butler Academy.

Ultimately Miss Lin appointed legal firm Dunsters Attorneys, and excellent advocate Adam Brink, for legal action. A year ago she and the legal team were granted 3 August 2023 as the court date. The SA Butler Academy started an interlocutor motion, requesting R500000 security for costs, possibly to persuade Miss Lin to withdraw her case, but this motion was rejected by the judge as she is regarded an Incola.

On 3 August 2023 an Agreement between Miss Lin and the defendants South African Butler Academy cc, Butler Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Butler Training (Pty) Ltd, Guild Recruitment (Pty) Ltd, Newton Hilton Cross, and Willem Adriaan Coetzer was made a Court Order (Case number 10430/2020):

‘ 1. The Defendants will repay to the Plaintiff the fee paid by her of USD 5200, at the exchange rate on the date of payment by her to the Defendants, plus the sum of R32 947, 62, plus interest on both sums at the prescribed rate from 30 April 2019.

2. The Plaintiff abandons any claim against the Defendants for damages flowing from the defendants’ unauthorised use of the Plaintiff’s image for publicity, and the violation of her dignity.

3. The plaintiff withdraws the complaint with the National Consumer Commission and the Information Regulator against the defendants.

4. The Defendants will pay the Plaintiffs costs on a party and party scale, subject to the following:

4.1. limiting the Plaintiff’s counsel’s costs with respect to appearance at the trial to those incurred for the hearing on 3 August 2023; and

4.2. Each party to pay their own costs reserved in the order of the Honourable Justice Meer of 24 February 2021; and

5. The parties will agree to publish the joint statement annexed hereto marked ‘A’ ‘

‘ I took on the SA Butler Academy to also assist other aggrieved past students as well as future students to be protected against the misleading marketing of the institution’, she said. She is particularly concerned about protecting the rights and interests of female students, stating that not all students have other qualifications from reputable educational institutions as she has been fortunate to experience.

In the past four years of living here, waiting for the Court date and action, Ms Lin experienced the beautiful natural resources of our country, praising them, and expressed the hope that there would be better governance of them.

She thanked her legal team for their dedicated action in her case against the SA Butler Academy, her advocate being happy with the positive outcome.

She wishes her fellow 22 students well at the National Consumer Commission in their class action against the SA Butler Academy. Ms Lin is no longer part of this action.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323

Twitter:@Ulmenstein

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WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 11 March

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Speculation about the reason for the stepping down of Koos Bekker as CEO of Naspers at the end of last month is that Bekker may be planning to create the world’s largest global internet, media, and digital group.

*   Bloomberg Businessweek has highlighted Cape Town as the jet set holiday destination of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey, paying R50000 per day to stay in the new villa at Ellerman House, which houses owner Paul Harris’ art collection and new Wine Gallery (a serious one, not a six bottle one like that of the petite Pendock Wine Gallery)! Unfortunately the article contrasts the opulence of the villa and its guests with the poverty of the inhabitants of the townships in Cape Town, and highlights the city’s poor reputation as the ‘most violent city in Africa‘!

*   Top UK chef Michel Roux Jnr has resigned from the BBC produced ‘MasterChef: the Professionals’ and ‘Food and Drink‘, describing negotiations with the BBC as a ‘frustrating process’, the corporation not having an appreciation of Roux’s commercial relationships.

*   Moderate wine drinking could help prevent heart attacks and reduce heart-related deaths amongst Continue reading →

Franschhoek Literary Festival: Acknowledges importance and power of Twitter!

It is ironic that one of the most popular sessions of the sixth Franschhoek Literary Festival, ‘Tweeting for Africa‘, should acknowledge the importance of Twitter and confirm that it will ‘never go away’, when the Literary Festival (with only 322 followers) itself used Twitter so poorly to share the knowledge that was being generated by all its speakers.  Few Tweets were sent, and barely any Tweets by others were ReTweeted.

The panel for the Twitter session was an interesting ‘bolshy’ (referring to another session earlier in the day) mix of Gus Silber, a free-lance writer with 12000 followers; Professor Jonathan Jansen, Rector of the University of the Free State, who Tweets with his 33000 students, and has 21000 followers; and 5FM presenter Gareth Cliff, with more than 275000 followers! The session was chaired by 702 presenter Jenny Crys-Williams, with almost 9000 followers.

The personalities of the three panelists came through in the hour of the panel session in how they use and deal with Twitter and Tweets.  Gareth Cliff only follows 68 Twitter accounts, showing that he outputs information, and may ReTweet it, but that he is not necessarily using Twitter as an information source himself. He said one should choose carefully whom one follows, for the credibility of the information provided. He follows some accounts for the fun they generate.  He questioned why one would follow companies, mentioning Pick ‘n Pay, just selling gherkins, and having no personality at all, he said! There are many clever, but also stupid people, on Twitter. He praised Western Cape Premier Helen Zille for being the ‘best political Tweeter in the world’, even if she sometimes makes mistakes. It is a very democratic medium, in that everyone can have a say. Cliff sounded flippant when he said that he ignores any negative Tweets about himself, and for fun he may even ReTweet them, demonstrating his irreverence. There are ‘nasty, vile, and violent’ things written on Twitter, reflecting humanity, and this is ‘the dark side of Twitter’. He says one cannot be liked by everybody. He says that there is a lot of ‘misinformation’ on Twitter, and as well as false content Tweeted. Social Media has made all of us broadcasters now, he said, and that means that we must take responsibility for what we say. He says that Twitter is a close second to radio as a storytelling medium. Every sidelined person can have a conversation on Twitter, given that there are more cellphones than people in the country, making Twitter accessible to all. He warned against Tweeting too much, not more than once in 15 minutes being his advice. One must be on the edge of the topic, and push its boundaries. Tweeting about poor service has put the power back into the hands of the consumer. If one cannot say something in 140 characters, it does not need to be said. He praised the ‘amazing creativity’ in Tweets. Twitter is a ‘raw medium’, and if one posts something that is untrue or incorrect, one will be found out. When asked if he is paid to Tweet to endorse brands, he said that an ad agency written Tweet would have no credibility, and that he would be unfollowed if he were to hard sell or deceive his followers.  Pictures are important, but he warned against Tweeting ‘personal stuff’.  ‘Twitter trolls should not be given time nor tolerated‘.  When one is wasting time (bank or shop queue, plane delayed) he Tweets, and he can Tweet and do other things at the same time.  It becomes integrated into one’s life.

Gus Silber came across as a gentle man, who does not wish to offend by unfollowing anyone (he admitted that he has never unfollowed anyone), resulting in him following more than 11000 accounts, and therefore spends about 4-5 hours per day on Twitter.  Mocked about this by Cliff, he said that he is waiting for one snippet of information to come through that could be the potential for a story. He said that Twitter allows one to ‘plug into other people’s lives’, and that it has become ‘voyeuristic’, and shows one’s character – its like ‘Tweeting naked’, he said. He said that he used to walk around with a moleskin notebook, for story ideas, but now he uses his phone to share his observations with the world, creating a ‘Thoughtstream’.  He said that journalists are exhilarated by but petrified of Twitter, and must now Tweet their scoops before they are printed, to claim ownership of breaking news. Twitter is like ‘24 hour talk radio’, there is always someone Tweeting, but also people awake and ‘listening‘.   Social good can come from Twitter, and that is why it is called Social Media, but fights are an exception, even if they are entertaining. The cellphone is a ‘24 hour Molotov cocktail’. ‘In our vuvuzela democracy, we have all become very human, and very powerful people buddies’. Having a locked Twitter account is a complete waste of time!

Professor Jansen said that Twitter is a medium which is often used irresponsibly, yet he defended the two ‘dimwits’, referring to the two models writing racist Tweets. He did acknowledge that the technology for instant communication has made our world ‘less violent’. He said that teenagers hate their parents being on Twitter, trying to be cool.  He laughed when he said that he has quite a number of followers, but then Oprah Winfrey has 1 million! He warned about the addictive side of Twitter, and how families can sit around a dinner table, no longer talking to each other, each one Tweeting.  It is rude to Tweet while one is talking to someone, he said.

There is no debate about whether Twitter should be embraced – it is a powerful medium, and it is here to stay, the panel concluded!

Allied to this session was the one entitled ‘On being Bolshy’, given that Tweeting takes some kind of ‘bolshiness’. Gareth Cliff, Noseweek editor Martin Welz, and ex-Frontline editor Denis Beckett were the panelists, very ably chaired by Marianne Thamm, even if she misused her position for her personal issues. Martin Welz has no friends on Facebook, while Gareth Cliff has 300000.  However, Noseweek has 30000 readers, and they are the source of information for articles, as well as people who have tried everything else and come to the magazine as a ‘last resort’.  Welz called for letters to the editor to contain real names.  He said we have a right to an opinion, and he respects Gareth Cliff for expressing it. He also said that journalism costs money, to research stories. He said to applause that Noseweek has never written about Julius Malema. Thamm said that she ‘hates bloggers’, and more specifically food bloggers, writing for free!  Ironically, Jenny Hobbs is the organiser of the Franschhoek Literary Festival, and her daughter Jane-Anne is an über food blogger!

In what should have fitted in with this theme as well was yesterday’s session ‘The Price of Fame’, in which the panelist writers Alexandra Fuller, Richard Mason, and Gareth Cliff all protested their fame.  Mason said that Cliff was far more famous, in having been an Idols judge!  One gathered that Cliff did not agree with this, but he was ragged regularly by Mason.  The chairman of the session, Ndumiso Ngcobo, had no control over the strong egos on the panel, who were asking the questions, rather than him! As a result, the conversation was all over the show, and Cliff said relatively little! Fuller had the oddest ‘marketing strategy’, trashing her public image (maybe to prove how ‘unfamous’ she is), telling the audience repeatedly how much she drinks, to the detriment of her duties as a mother towards her children. It was the weakest of the sessions that we attended.

The Franschhoek Literary Festival attracted a sold out Twitter session, and could do well to expand on Social Media, and offering many more sessions on the topic next year! It also needs to vastly improve its Social Media generally and Twitter presence specifically, both in marketing a Festival which saw fewer attendees this year (coinciding with Mother’s Day, Indaba), and to share the content.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

Restaurant Review: The Foodbarn’s Chef’s Table is a food and wine feast!

A Tweet by Chef Franck Dangereux about his Chef’s Table yesterday, with a link to the 8-course menu, caught my eye on Twitter earlier this week.  Given all the good things I have read about The Foodbarn of late, and the excellent summer weather forecast of 35°C, I booked a seat for the lunch. Although pricey at R595 excluding the tip, the eight course meal, paired with six sets of Groot Constantia wines, with two vintages of wines for five of these, was a proverbial Feast, true to the promise one sees visually on the wall as one enters the restaurant.

The table for twenty was festively set with white table cloths and overlays, a selection of glasses, and a material serviette, with yellow daffodils and white roses in the centre.  The walls are painted in a unique blue, and this colour is picked up in chair covers for outside, and inside the cloakrooms.  On the walls are photographs of Chef Franck with other chefs, as well as three handwritten letters to him from Oprah Winfrey, Juliette Binoche, and Leonardo DiCaprio. We were a mixed bunch of lunchers. I recognised writer Donald Paul (who looked like Chef Franck’s brother), and Guy Kebble.  Boela Gerber is the winemaker at Groot Constantia, leading the wine tasting, and he has been at Groot Constantia for the past eleven years, and recently became a member of the Cape Winemakers’ Guild.  Brand new Sales and Marketing Manager is Grant Newton, who attended as well. Everyone got on well, most not having met before, and Chef Franck came to sit down as well whenever he could get out of the kitchen, photographing and tasting his dishes.  Cleverly he made some of the guests change seats midway through the lunch, and this gave me an opportunity to ask him some questions, and for new connections to be made.  Chef Franck welcomed all, and asked us to be adventurous in trying what he was serving us, and to have an open mind.  He pulled out all the stops in his first test, being an amuse bouche of frogs legs, which very few present had ever eaten. It was served well flavoured with garlic and sprinkled with parsley, which most described as having a taste similar to chicken.  Boela introduced the two Groot Constantia Sauvignon Blancs, a 2008 and a 2011 (R94 estate price).  He said that the consumer expectation is to drink this wine variety as young as possible, laughingly saying they are demanding a 2013 already! The 2008 tasted of green pea and asparagus, while the 2011 had fresh tropical granadilla flavour notes.  These two Sauvignon Blancs were paired with Chef Franck’s oysters with a terrine of seaweed and cucumber, a beautiful dish served with aioli and tobiko (roe from flying fish), and most preferred the younger Sauvignon Blanc.  Open to a challenge himself, Chef Franck was able to conjure up alternative dishes for two guests who were allergic to shellfish, requested at short notice on their arrival.

An interesting contrasting combination was seared scallops which were served with crispy pig’s trotter samoosas, and served with a star anise jus.  The rich Groot Constantia 2007 and 2010 Chardonnays (R138 estate price) were paired with this course. Boela said their barrel-fermented Chardonnay is very popular, and they only produce 1500 cases.  This variety sells out every year.  The best dish by far was the pan-fried foie gras, which was served with Japanese mushrooms and pineapple, with a subtle liquorice jus.  The unusual pairing of this dish with the dessert wine Grand Constance 2003 and 2009 (R366 for 375 ml, estate price), the latter pairing particularly well with the foie gras. Boela told us that they tried to reconstruct the original sweet wine developed on the 327 year old wine estate, conducting research to check how it was made originally.  They work with raisins which were ‘vinified’. It has resulted in a caramel flavour.  Bread was brought to the table for the foie gras, but was not toasted, and melba toast or brioche would have suited the dish better.  To give the meal a break, a colourful ‘Drinking boozy sorbet’ was served, which was a refreshing watermelon and vodka sorbet.

At this point I could chat to Franck, and he told me that he came to South Africa about 20 years ago, originally using the country as a base to travel, settling at Constantia Uitsig, where he worked for ten years. He started The Foodbarn six years ago, it containing a deli too initially, but he has moved that to another part of the centre, serving light meals too.  He told me that he has broken the mould of fine dining, and he likes the journey and irreverence of it.  He looks happy, in his shorts and T-shirt, and says he is having fun. He wants his customers to be happy at his restaurant, and for them to bring their children and their dogs. His clients come from Constantia, Hout Bay and Noordhoek, Fishhoek and Kommetjie.  In winter his food cost goes to 47%, but his restaurant does about 60 covers, breaking even financially and his staff stay in training when they remain busy.  We laughed when he said that he cooks the food and his business partner Pete de Bruyn ‘cooks the books’!  His favourite restaurants, not that he has much time to go to them, are Bizerca, and new Thai restaurant Erawan in Wynberg. We chatted about MasterChef SA, and Chef Franck said that he likes Chef Bennie Masekwameng, for being kind to the contestants.  He knows Chef Pete Goffe-Wood.  He praised the camera work and production quality, but said that he hoped that the food quality would improve.  I explained the MasterChef Masterclasses to come, which Top 18 finalist Guy Clark had told me about (interview to be posted on Tuesday).  Grant Newton came to chat, and told me that he has a diverse background for his new job at Groot Constantia, having owned his own restaurant, having run a Social Media consultancy, and worked at the previous SFW (now Distell), the university of wine, he laughed.

I have never tasted Swordfish before, and it had a definitive taste, without bones (a childhood fear), which Chef Franck served with braised radicchio, a member of the chicory/endive family, and a red wine jus with persillade (a chopped garlic and parsley mix). Given the stronger taste of the fish, the flagship Groot Constantia Gouverneurs Reserve 2003 (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend) and 2009 (Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend, at R233 estate price) were a perfect pairing.  A ‘steak au poivre’ (pepper steak) was presented with Cambodian black and red Kampot (peppers), and pomme Sarladaise (sliced potatoes sautéed in goose fat, and then sprinkled with garlic and parsley).  This dish was paired with 2004 and 2010 Groot Constantia Shiraz (R133 estate price), spicy, peppery and elegant, his favourite wine to serve with a main course, Boela told us.  As if we had not eaten and drunk enough, an elegant glass of ice cold Groot Constantia Cap Classique 2008 (R150 estate price) was served with an unusual quince carpaccio and quince sorbet, which had been placed on top of a refreshing lemon panna cotta, a perfect end to a perfect long meal.

Chef Franck is clearly a sauce man, and creative in his unusual ingredient combinations.  He told us that he would not tell us about his dishes, as they should ‘speak for themselves’.  However, he uses unusual ingredients and a number of culinary terms, so it would be interesting to have an explanation of each dish.  The service from his staff let him down, when a waitress stretched across us to place a fork on a number of occasions, and the requested water and ice refill needing a number of reminders.  It is advisable to not eat for a number of days before coming to a Chef’s Table at The Foodbarn, and to not have any dining plans for a few days thereafter, there is so much food to eat!  One should also not have to be anywhere after the lunch, as ours lasted from 12h00 – 17h00, even Chef Franck having to leave before the end, to see his son play rugby!  The Foodbarn logo promises 100% passion, and handmade real food – Chef Franck and his kitchen team deliver 100%!

The Foodbarn, Noordhoek Farm Village, Noordhoek.  Tel (021) 789-1390.  www.thefoodbarn.co.za Twitter: @TheFoodbarn, Tuesday – Sundays Lunch and Dinner.  50 % off a la carte menu dishes Monday – Friday lunches until the end of April.  Wine and food pairing evenings in winter.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage