The Little Fighters Cancer Trust wishes to clear up any confusion about involvement with Lisa van Loggerenberg, as alluded to, by social media statements and press releases, written by Dr. Santa-Marié Venter and distributed by Mr. Mathew Bartlett to the press.
Due to incorrect information and unsubstantiated facts, the Little Fighters Cancer Trust is by non-existing association, being forced into a position to answer questions from National and Regional press sources. Many of which, seems to be confused as to what exactly our involvement with Ms. Van Loggerenberg has been, as the aforementioned press release is found to be ambiguous.
We have been made aware of three instances in which the name of the Little Fighters Cancer Trust has been mentioned.
Quote 1
Posted as a comment by Dr. Santa-Marié Venter on a facebook post:
“Thomas Engela the founder of the Little Fighters Cancer Trust needs to see how their money has been (1) stolen!!! They (referral to Little Fighters Cancer Trust) even paid for (2) their tickets to CT (referring to travel undertaken by Ms van Loggerenberg and Mr Midlane)
Quote 2:
Press release written by Dr. Santa Marié Venter, distributed to the press by Mr. Mathew Bartlett:
“Johannesburg based, (1) Little Fighters Cancer Trust activist, Carrina Niemand, has been involved with van Loggerenberg’s journey with cancer from the outset. She was the one who nicknamed her “The Pink Gladiator”. “This girl always amazed me. She had two young children and was fighting this battle with cancer. (2) I wanted to give her all the emotional and financial support that I could”
Quote 3:
From an article published by The Benoni Times, 24 July, “BATTLE READY: Local female boxer and cancer sufferer looks ahead to upcoming fight”
“She is also trying to raise funds for the Little Fighters Cancer Trust through the sale of Pink Gladiator beanies and shirts.´
The Little Fighters Cancer Trust would like to make it very clear, that we were aware of the fact that Ms. Van Loggerenberg was attempting to raise funds for our organization. We are aware of the following two initiatives only:
1. The proceeds from the sales of Pink Gladiator merchandise would be donated to our organization
2. Ms. van Loggerenberg insisted to the organizers of the Be Fit and Fab Expo, to include our organization in the Expo as an opportunity to raise both funds, as well as awareness. This Expo was held in Pretoria, over the weekend of the 20th and 21st of September, 2014. The Expo was also attended by the Little Fighters Cancer Trusts only official Representative in Johannesburg. The amount of R1 957 was raised on the day at the Expo, with various activities, including a shavathon. Ms. Van Loggerenberg did not physically deal with the administration or handling of the money. In addition, our Representative also received an envelope containing R3 000.00 in cash, with the following words written on the front of the envelope: “With Love, Pink Gladiator”. From this, it was assumed that the money contained, were the proceeds of the Pink Gladiator merchandise.
Therefore, our stance is, and will remain so until proven wrong by non-disputable evidence, is that we do not accuse Ms. Van Loggerenberg of “stealing our money”, as in the first quote above.
The second part of the first quote, claims that the Little Fighters Cancer Trust paid for flight tickets for Ms. Van Loggerenberg and Mr. Midlane. These would be for return flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town, departing October 15th, returning October 23rd.
The Little Fighters Cancer Trust’s Constitution clearly states that we assist children with cancer and their families. Therefore, we will not be able to provide any adult with assistance, as for example, paying for airfares when it is because of medical reasons the person has to travel.
Secondly, we are in knowledge of the last four digits of the credit card which paid for these tickets. We would happily provide both these numbers, as well as the last four digits of the Little Fighters Cancer Trust’s cheque card. We do not possess a credit card, as a charitable organization does not qualify for a credit card in the first place.
The second quote provided, also has two parts to clarify. Firstly, the Little Fighters Cancer Trust has no official affiliation with Ms. Carrina Niemand. She has been involved with a few of our projects as a supporter. We have only one official Representative in Johannesburg Ms. Katrin Janse van Vuuren.
By bad syntax, the misconstrued view of this paragraph, is that she is speaking on behalf of the Little Fighters Cancer Trust. She does not. Where she mentions having supported Ms. Van Loggerenberg, both emotionally and financially, she is most definitely referring to herself in a private capacity.
The third quote was clarified by the very first response above.
The Little Fighters Cancer Trust has simple demands. Please remove our name and misinterpretation from the press release written by Dr. Santa- Marié and distributed by Mr. Mathew Bartlett and post as publically as it was posted on social media, an apology for stating the Little Fighters Cancer Trust paid for Ms. Van Loggerenberg and Mr. Midlane’s airline tickets. Furthermore, this press release by the Little Fighters Cancer Trust, will be distributed by Dr Santa-Marié Venter and Mr Mathew Bartlett to ALL the press and media sources to which they distributed their original incorrect press release.
This is not a request, but indeed a demand, as the Little Fighters Cancer Trust has a very good reputation, which is all we have to ensure that our organization grows even more over the following years, so that we can increase the support we can offer to children with cancer and their families. Necessary steps will be taken to protect this reputation.
As we are completely dependent on public funding, and the public is being misled by this statement, it will affect willingness by the public to donate, if they are under the impression that our organization misspends monies on buying holiday plane tickets for adults who are not at all affected by childhood cancer.
The Little Fighters Cancer Trust is saddened by the entire situation. We have previously enjoyed amazing support from the MMA and EFC community. Many fighters have stated on social media, that they are now backing out of charitable work because of this debacle. We have tried to reach out to the MMA community, to show them that we are still appreciative of their support, and that we need them to be in our corner, by inviting some MMA fighters to join our Johannesburg Representative, this coming Saturday, in delivering a wheelchair to a young cancer fighter, who is also a huge MMA fan. Whereas MMA fighters would almost always immediately agree when something like this was requested, we have not yet received a reply from either of the two fighters. This concerns us tremendously, as we believed that we have a strong and mutually supportive relationship with MMA and EFC, who have both been nothing but good to the Little Fighters Cancer Trust, and the children and families who we support.
This situation, which might have started out because the instigators thought they were, among other unknown motivations, “protecting” the Little Fighters Cancer Trust, can now severely impact our organization in a negative manner, causing us to lose funding, and not being able to sustain the current quality and volume of service delivery to children with cancer and their families across South Africa.
For Press Information and Queries pertaining only to the above, please contact the Little Fighters Cancer Trust via mandie@littlefighters.org.za
