A HARARE shadowy group that calls itself Boyz Dze Tonaz Crew is alleged to be on a campaign to taint the image of Miss Zimbabwe Trust and its models by leaking nude pictures of models they would have had flings with in the past.
BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
Sources claim that the crew members — whose exact number could not be verified yesterday — deliberately charm top models that they date and after the relationships would have fizzled out, embark on a vilification campaign.
The group is said to be responsible for the leakage of embattled Miss World Zimbabwe Emily Kachote’s nude pictures, which are said to have been shot when she went for a sleep over at her ex-boyfriend’s house.
Further indications are that the same outfit was responsible for leaking Thabiso Phiri’s pictures in the nude last year as its leader (name supplied) was in the habit of dating models.
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi declined to speak on how much ground the police had covered and said his boss, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, had already spoken on the matter.
Charamba was quoted saying dealing with cases involving social media posed a serious challenge to the police.
“According to the laws of this country it is difficult to regulate social media. It is difficult to pinpoint where the pictures originated and even if someone is fingered they can simply say, in court, that their phone was stolen,” she said.
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A lawyer who spoke to NewsDay yesterday said the disgraced models would not be able to file a lawsuit against whoever leaked the pictures because they were equally culpable.
He said it would be difficult to prosecute the suspected culprits when there was no complainant and when the girls themselves would have breached the pageant’s rules that demand an impeccable and squeaky clean record on the part of the beauty queens.
“Firstly, it’s a policy issue as far as their line of trade (modelling) is concerned. For them to qualify, they must not have these kinds of pictures,” he said.
“The second thing is that having such pictures under the law is illegal. So what it implies is that if they were posing for the shots, they were also violating the law so they will also be brought to book should the matter go to court.”
Early this week, Miss Zimbabwe Trust chairperson Marry Chiwenga said while they would take legal action against Kachote for violating the contract she signed with the pageant, there was nothing they could do about the person who leaked the pictures.
“She (Kachote) signed the contract and she knows what she agreed on. She knows if it’s something she did then she is in trouble.
“We will take legal action as she signed a contract stating that she did not have any nude pictures anywhere,” she said.
“If someone decided to date or they have dated someone it’s not up to us to tell them not to. If indeed it’s the same guy who has been leaking pictures of models, then she should have known better. We cannot do anything to him as a Trust, but we will deal with Emily, she is the one we have a contract with.”
