Pretoria girls feeling ‘blessed’
Pretoria is proving to be a happy hunting ground among the #MoralsMustFall brigade, with more and more people joining the so-called “blesser” phenomenon.
|||Pretoria - Pretoria is proving to be a happy hunting ground among the #MoralsMustFall brigade, with more and more people joining the so-called “blesser” phenomenon.
The process is quite simple; the blessers - rich men - send an inbox message to Blesserfinder Facebook page or website. They then make an offer describing the kind of girl they want.
They explain the body features and age and also how much payment is proposed per month or a holiday.
The name and profile picture of the blesser are not revealed. The posts start with the words “Advert Alert”. It is accompanied by a screen grab of the description of what the blesser wants.
The “blessees”, or those interested in being blessed, respond and are hooked up with the blesser.
Most of the blessers describe themselves as travellers who go on domestic and international trips and need women to go with them.
They buy expensive clothing and shoes for the women and go to fancy restaurants. Last week the page posted that it was inclusive and thus open to same-sex hook-ups.
Blesserfinder spokesman, known only as “Ditshego”, said at least 25% of their social media following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram came from Pretoria.
KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of members at 45%.
Ditshego said the demographics of all the social media platforms showed that black people were leading the pack at 60%, followed by whites at 25% and 15% of other racial groups. “Lately, there has been an increase of white older men who subscribe, saying they always fantasised to be with black young women. And young black girls who have always wanted older white men are gladly accepting these offers,” said Ditshego.
Asked why and how the online group started, Ditshego said it was a social experiment. “We weren’t anticipating such a huge following. What started out as a light experiment is turning into a lucrative hook-up,” said Ditshego.
The blesser trend apparently started on social media, where unemployed young women posted about their expensive lifestyles, claiming they had been blessed. This led to social media users asking the girls what and who their blessers were - and then the secret was out.
After social media originally described it as online prostitution, the page now ends every post it updates with #MoralsMustFall and is hugely popular.
There are critics, who describe the craze as a new form of prostitution, which subsequently developed into Blesserfinder, a platform where women are matched with rich sponsors in exchange for sex.
Some women have laughed about the idea of finding someone to finance their lifestyles, especially in these tough economic times, but many are actually in relationships with their blessers. Others indicated they were considering it.
And with a following of 38 717 on Facebook, 4 000 on Twitter and 2 000 on Instagram, the online group is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in the online, no-strings-attached hook-up scene. But a lot of tongues are wagging.
Felicia Barbie said on Facebook: “I love the whole blesser thing. There’s nothing wrong with a man with deep pockets taking care of a woman and a woman taking care of the blesser’s manly needs.”
Dallas Sithole did not agree, posting: “I encourage people to find jobs or start their own business and stop depending on other people. What is this blesser nonsense?”
Omaatla Martinez replied to Sithole: “You should ignore this page since you are blessed already with a job. There are some people out there sending CVs all over with no reply. What must they eat? At least they are not doing any crime.”
In this week’s episode of Checkpoint on eNCA, “Sushi King” Kenny Kunene apologised for having once been a blesser and turning many girls into prostitutes. The show interviewed 27-year-old blessee Amanda Cele, who said she had no job, but lived in a surburban flat, drove a Mercedes and wore a range of luxury brands. Her blesser made it happen. The show also featured blesser Serge Cabonge who said he spent R100 000 on his blessee.
The founder of Blesserfinder said his wife didn’t know about the business venture. He said there were more women subscribers than men on the network.
sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co.za
Pretoria News