He was not my blesser but my husband – Khanyi Mbau
Mthembu and Mbau's relationship set tongues wagging years ago, mostly due to the age gap.
Khanyi Mbau on set for Katch it With Khanyi. Picture: Refilwe Modise
eNCA’s current affairs show CheckPoint aired its latest episode investigating the phenomenon of blessers, a euphemism for “sugar daddies on steroids”, as the show refers to them. It made the trend even more of a talking point than it’s been.
It spoke to 27-year-old “blessee” Amanda Cele, who is unemployed but lives in a flat in the suburbs, drives a Mercedes and wears a range of luxury brands – all thanks to her blesser, who she said “makes things happen”, The Citizen has reported.
Surprisingly, however, former “Sushi King” Kenny 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”.
Another celebrity who surprisingly could not hold back about criticising the blesser-blessee lifestyle is the pop musician and actor Khanyi Mbau.
Mbau’s life came into the spotlight when she dated the then wealthy businessman Mandla Mthembu, who was much older than her. The couple have a daughter together. Mthembu and Mbau’s relationship set tongues wagging, mostly due to their age gap and Mthembu’s financial status. The couple were regularly seen on Joburg’s streets in matching yellow Lamborghinis (coincidentally, we are told Kunene later ended up owning one of them for a while).
When the relationship ended and her ex-husband reportedly ran out of money, Mbau revealed in an interview with Debora Patta that she had to find someone to fund her lifestyle – and this time it was businessman Theunis Crous, who was still married to Primrose Crous at the time.
At the time, Crous admitted that he had always dreamt of relationships with beautiful women like Mbau and his wife, but he could only make that a reality after he was earning a lot of money.
It is Mbau’s history of dating rich men that led to one Facebook user Neo Lenong’s backlash against Mbau when the celeb criticised the blesser-blessee lifestyle after watching CheckPoint.
Mbau posted: What have we become South Africa! Let’s close South Africa,” to which Lenong responded with “You had a blesser before so please sit down!”
Mbau responded, telling them that Mthembu could not have been her blesser if she had been his wife.
“Please act educated! I have a child with my ex-husband. Please act clever,” she wrote.
“Y’all can blame me and try make me Jesus. Try hang all your sins on me but at the end of it all!! It goes back to choices! #Checkpoint.”
