500 job seekers flood Gwanda woman’s inbox

Lorraine Mathe
A woman from Gwanda was reportedly tormented by more than 500 messages flooding her inbox daily after a fake advert was placed online with her cellphone number.

Duduzile Masilela (48) claimed her phone was inundated with calls from desperate job seekers after an unknown person circulated a fake poster with her number claiming Gwanda State University (GSU) was looking for 17 secretaries for their different departments, webmaster and an electrician.

To her dismay, some were even offering bribes so that they could be considered.

“I admit the number on that poster is mine but I have nothing to do with that. I am neither an employee nor a former GSU student.

“I managed to ask some of them where they got my name and number and they told me that they were responding to an advert placed online.”

It was later discovered that the advert was fake after she circulated an audio on WhatsApp informing people about her ignorance of the advert.

The advert with Masilela’s mobile number reads in part: “If you have anyone who has completed their secretarial studies can they call or app me urgently.

“There are 17 secretary posts open and closing on 14 April. We are also looking for an electrician, lecturing posts, cooks (2 posts), and a porter in the students dining hall”.

It stated that candidates should be only those from Matabeleland South province.

From then on, she said her phone was flooded with calls, texts and WhatsApp messages from desperate job seekers.

Masilela said she started receiving calls and messages last year in April.

“Early this year in March the same person started circulating the same advert and I started receiving calls and WhatsApp messages.

“I again circulated an audio stating I have nothing to do with that advert and that it was a fake one and that is when I stopped receiving messages and calls from those prospective job seekers”.

She adds: “It was disturbing and frustrating to find more than 100 messages in my inbox.

“At the same time I feel the need to respond to all of them because those people were desperate for those advertised jobs”.

An official at GSU said: “It is only that people didn’t scrutinise the post that has been circulating on WhatsApp, it was written fake news and those are the measures which we undertook to counteract it”.