Alleged pageant scam artist Kaylib Mango has apparently struck again, this time in Worcester.
The pageant organiser and model appeared in the Daily Voice on 18 April, accused of defrauding winners out of their prize money and air tickets.
Mango was crowned Mr Western Province 2021 and Mr Universal SA 2022/2023, but after the accusations surfaced, Pageants SA and OMT Pageants stripped him of his titles.
Daily Voice this week received an email from an events company in Worcester who claimed that they too fell victim to Kaylib’s tricks after he allegedly falsified proof of payment of just under R4000 in August.
Elizabeth Verwoerd from Best Events Decor explains: “Kaylib hired items from us and sent a proof of payment but the proof of payment never reflected [in our bank account].
“He insisted that he did pay the money, but later said he will fix things.
“Every time when I spoke to him then he was either in Cape Town or too busy, he always had an excuse.
“August is one of our quiet months, at that stage I was struggling to pay salaries and then he stole from me as well, which made it worse.”
Chriszelda Page from Worcester said they met Mango at a pageant in August when he asked her daughter to join his modelling school, BMV Models.
She adds: “People warned us when they saw we were working with Kaylib and they told us the stories, but I thought it was years ago and I believe in giving people second chances.”
She said the parents organised a braai platter fundraiser for a national pageant in Gauteng taking place next year, and Mango initially told them that he “wants nothing to do with money”.
Chriszelda goes on: “When the money started coming in, he said we should pay it into a business account and that is where things got krapperig.”
She said Mango asked for the money and told them that he would be handing it over to an accountant from Nedbank, who would be handling their funds.
But when she did her own research, she discovered that this was all lies and that there was no accountant.
When contacted by the Daily Voice on Thursday, Mango called Verwoerd’s allegations “false”.
He claims: “I never falsified payments [to Best Event Decor], it was a payment that was made to the incorrect person.”
He then accused Chriszelda of withholding the braai money, saying: “This parent was working with all the braai fundraising money. The suspicion came from my side when expenses given by her did not make sense to me at all.
“The expenses were only R1400 and she obtained almost R6000 of the braai money.”