Kunene slams paper for associating him with blesser story
The Sushi King did not feel 'blessed' by his cameo appearance in a story about Serge Cabonge.
Kenny Kunene, at his home on April 12, 2013, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Picture: Gallo Images
Sushi King Kenny Kunene took to Twitter on Thursday to ask why a daily newspaper had felt the need to use a photograph of himself with known “blesser” Serge Cabonge on an article about the blesser phenomenon.
Kunene has been trying to dissociate himself from the phenomenon since May last year.
He wrote: “What a f**k is my pic doing in this story, like really now????”
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The Sowetan article in question actually made no reference to Kunene at all, but was instead an interview with an acquaintance of Kunene’s, Serge Cabonge, who has become the “face” of the blesser phenomenon in South Africa.
Cabonge told the paper that “blessing” had “nothing to do with transactional sex” and that “blessings come from God”.
Cabonge blamed the media this week for an incorrect portrayal of the blessing phenomenon. He said he took issue with a report that claimed that he had ever paid women for sex.
The blesser phenomenon has made headlines again this week after the murder of a 15-year-old girl who reportedly believed she was going on a date with a blesser, only to allegedly be kidnapped and murdered.
On an episode of Checkpoint on eNCA last year, Kunene apologised for having once been a blesser himself and for “turning many girls into prostitutes”.
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The show spoke to 27-year-old “blessee” Amanda Cele, who was unemployed but lived in a flat in the suburbs, drove a Mercedes and wore a range of luxury brands – all thanks to her blesser, who she said “makes things happen”.
Cabonge, not a South African man, described himself as a blesser on the show and claimed to have spent R100 000 on one of the women he has “blessed”.
He claimed that 75% of the women in South Africa expected money out of a relationship.
Surprisingly, however, Kunene was highly critical of the blesser phenomenon, although he admitted he had once been a big part of it.
He said that it would be better to describe the trend as “pimps and prostitutes”, as what takes place is “the action of a prostitute”.
He explained that he had taken advantage of the fact that his young female targets came from poor backgrounds and were only too happy to be showered with gifts, taken on trips and booked into five-star hotels – in return for sex. Kunene famously told talk show host Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu that he was dating 15 women at the same time but told The Citizen that he was now in a steady relationship with a long-time girlfriend, with whom he was serious.
If South Africa accepted the trend of blessers and blessees, Kunene told Checkpoint, we would be saying that “it is OK to create a society of young prostitutes”.
Blessee Cele said that, to her, a man’s looks were not important and that it was all about what he could pay for.
Kunene offered an apology to the camera: “I want to apologise to the women I have turned into prostitutes myself. I have used them, given them money, the good life, for one intention only: for them to drop their panties.”
