Pearl Modiadie, David Tlale & SABC have been accused of 'concept theft'

19 July 2018 - 07:00

By Chrizelda Kekana

Content creator Glodine 'Vuvu' Makapela has accused David Tlale of The Intern and Pearl Modiadie of Raw Silk as well as the SABC of "stealing" her concept for a designer reality show - accusations that David has denied and Pearl insists has nothing to do with her.

Vuvu caused a stir on Twitter after she accused Pearl of concept theft on Tuesday night. While Pearl quickly shut her down on Twitter, fans responded to the claims on Twitter asking what had happened.

Vuvu told TshisaLIVE that her original concept, which she claims she had copyrights to since 2011, had pieces of it stolen to create both Raw Silk for SABC 1 and David Tlale: The Intern for SABC 3.

"I just want them to compensate the idea they stole. Copyright is copyright. Before we go the legal route, they must understand that we're giving them a chance to come clean. If it was us who stole this idea from them, they were gonna drag our names to the gutter," said Vuvu.

Vuvu claims to have been working on her idea since 2011, but struggled to find funding and the relevant people to back the idea. She titled it Top Designer and had a pilot for a show in 2015.

TshisaLIVE contacted some designers who had taken part in the pilot and they confirmed they had worked with her on the project.

Pearl said she was confused about her role as she was just a presenter.

"If anything, she should be approaching the SABC because she's accusing them and the production company. So when it comes to intellectual property, I'm not involved with (that)."

David also denied the accusations.

"I find it difficult for Ms Makapela to make such claims, when she has never even met Mr Tlale, or had any formal dialogue with him. Equally, Mr Tlale launched The Intern by David Tlale in 2011, which is a platform that has enjoyed great success," said Tlale's manager Davin Phillips.

The SABC had not replied to TshisaLIVE by the time of publishing this article.