Instagrammer Skye Grove dismissed from Cape Town Partnership job

Skye Grove, the prominent South African Instagrammer at the centre of an online plagiarism furore, has been dismissed from her position at Cape Town Partnership following an independent investigation.

In a newsletter sent out to the Cape Town Partnership community, CEO Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana confirmed that Grove had been dismissed following her suspension in mid-September.

“In my previous newsletter,” Makalima-Ngewana writes, “I promised to inform you of the outcome of the process we put in place when Skye Grove was suspended for plagiarising images on her personal Instagram account”.

“As per our HR policies and procedures, a hearing was convened to establish the facts of the case. The hearing, chaired by an independent specialist was held on Monday 28 September. The chairperson’s recommendation, based on findings and admissions, was dismissal. Skye was provided details of the findings and sanction within the agreed legal timeframes”.

Read more: Top South African Instagrammer accused of plagiarism, fraud

Grove had worked as Communications Manager at the public-private-NGO. Formed 10 years ago, Cape Town Partnership is a collaboration between the public and private sectors working together to develop, promote and manage Cape Town Central City as “a place for all citizens”. It is an organisation formed by the City of Cape Town, the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other stakeholders.

“While the Cape Town Partnership is not untouched by the fallout of Skye’s actions and the media coverage thereof,” Makalima-Ngewana writes, “it is my wish that we can now move on from this matter and that we may use the lessons learned to emerge as a stronger, more resilient organisation”.

The Cape Town Partnership CEO adds that the organisation is reviewing and refining its HR policies and procedures “to accommodate the current social media climate, in which an employee’s private actions can detrimentally affect his or her professional life”.

At her height, Grove had more than 40 000 Instagram followers and appeared as an expert on the nationally broadcast morning TV show Expresso as an expert on the platform.

Memeburn first broke news of Grove’s plagiarism in early September, spurred by a tip-off from a “concerned member” of the local Instagram community.

Read more: Instagrammer Skye Grove suspended from Cape Town Partnership pending investigation

Our investigations also uncovered evidence that Grove had profited from the plagiarism, selling a number of the plagiarised images online. Following the publication of the article, members from the online community to come forward with further evidence of the transgressions.

In the wake of the revelations, Grove posted an apology to her 40 000-plus Instagram followers, before deleting her social media accounts.

Read more: Instagram plagiarism scandal: Skye Grove apologises, deletes herself off internet

Grove was then put on unpaid leave in the lead up to the her suspension and the investigation which led to her dismissal.

Grove has since returned to Twitter, with her last tweet posted on Monday.

The Grove plagiarism incident is one of the biggest to hit South Africa in recent years. As former Mail & Guardian editor-in-chief points out in an article published on Memeburn in September, the last big plagiarism story was probably way back in 2003, when columnist Darrel Bristow-Bovey and Elle editor Cynthia Vongai were caught out lifting sections of text from other authors.

More recently, Western Cape premier Helen Zille accused a Cape Times journalist of plagiarising an article about Foetal Alchohol Syndrome. Another accusation was levelled against Gillian Schutte in 2013 for a post she authored on Mail & Guardian’s Thought Leader blogging platform.

Read the full Cape Town Partnership statement below:

In my previous newsletter, I promised to inform you of the outcome of the process we put in place when Skye Grove was suspended for plagiarising images on her personal Instagram account. As per our HR policies and procedures, a hearing was convened to establish the facts of the case. The hearing, chaired by an independent specialist was held on Monday 28 September. The chairperson’s recommendation, based on findings and admissions, was dismissal. Skye was provided details of the findings and sanction within the agreed legal timeframes.

While the Cape Town Partnership is not untouched by the fallout of Skye’s actions and the media coverage thereof, it is my wish that we can now move on from this matter and that we may use the lessons learned to emerge as a stronger, more resilient organisation. Our HR policies and procedures are being reviewed and are being refined to accommodate the current social media climate, in which an employee’s private actions can detrimentally affect his or her professional life.

Image: Skye Grove via Twitter.