‘No comment’: Miss SA on claims finalist was ‘high school bully’

A Miss SA Top finalist Levern José has courted controversy after being accused of being a former high school.

The accusations were made on Twitter by several women who shared their experiences.

José – of the Northern Cape – was announced as a finalist in an announcement last week. However, the pageant has opted to issue “no comment” to the allegations.

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MISS SA FINALISTS ACCUSED OF BULLYING

Over the weekend, Levern José became a trending Twitter topic after her alleged past came back to haunt her.

Tagging her and the Miss SA organisation, a tweep – @AnelisaJu – shared: “I was shocked to learn you made it to the top 12 in Miss South competition. One of the girls you used to bully at school spoke out about what you and your gang of mean girls did to her on her WhatsApp status. You are truly a horrible person”.

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Two more then tweeted:

@nsalemane: “Not gonna lie, but when I saw that girl make it to Miss SA Top 30, I was asking myself how ’cause she was a BULLY BULLY. I wanted to comment on my experience, but I held myself back (& thought maybe she changed, let me just mind my own), and lo & behold, the Twitter streets did an exposé.”

@FinegyaalKat: “This girl bullied me too. Her and her friend bullied my friend and I for two years!”.

However, tweeps noticed that the bully allegations were actually first made last month by a woman called Faith Judith Msiza.

The woman tweeted on 25 May in response to the Top 30 announcement: “Contest: Levern José is the girl who bullied me in high school she attended (Lyttelton Manor High School) Me and my father also witnessed her and her friend bully(hit) a girl named Deborah after school and when the mother tried to intervene they intimidated her.”

‘NO COMMENT,’ SAYS PAGEANT

Meanwhile, Miss SA organisers have had “no comment” about Levern José’s bullying allegations.

In a statement to The South African, the organisation said: “The Miss South Africa Organisation and its CEO Stephanie Weil have no comment about the alleged bullying”.

However, the pageant organisers previously told News24 of their strict policy: “Our rules state that any semi-finalist or finalist may not have been involved in any unsavoury or unethical incidents or conduct that may bring the organisers or the Miss South Africa pageant into disrepute. Unsavoury or unethical conduct includes but is not limited to bribery, racism, sexism, slander or libel.”

LEVERN JOSE TURNS IG COMMENTS OFF

Meanwhile,  Levern José has not responded to the allegations on social media.

On Instagram, the 23-year-old BCom Law student has turned off her comments. Instead she shared a post thanking her followers for all the “love and support”.