Monday, 16 May 2016

Blesserfinder: We are not pimps

THE founder of the new Blesserfinder dating site has refuted claims that they are promoting prostitution saying they do not charge for their services and therefore, cannot be labelled as pimps. “A pimp (man who controls prostitutes and arranges clients for them, taking part of their earnings in return) gets paid for organising a hooker, but if you’re not charging, you won’t find a law that’ll say what we’re doing is illegal,” said the founder who preferred anonymity.

Speaking on CheckPoint, eNCA’s vibrant investigative current affairs show last week – the founder said men on their site, which attracts thousands of people, were not looking for sex but companionship as they are forever on the go, sealing business deals.

“If these men were looking for sex, they could simply go to escort agencies. But, if they’ve sex with a blessee on the fourth day, it’s not prostitution because there was no payment upfront for sex,” he said.

With close to 50,000 followers on Facebook alone, Blesserfinder – home of the Blessers (rich men who spoil vulnerable young women) has taken South Africa by storm as it is making it possible for those wishing to be ‘blessed’ to find rich partners. The dating site has since been criticised by many with some saying it simply reflects on South Africa’s socio-economy status.

Popular SA businessman, Kenny Kunene, who was actually a blesser as he used to sleep with young women in exchange for money, said Blesserfinder was a site promoting prostitution and needed to be shut down to protect vulnerable women.

“You (Blesserfinder) are bringing people together on the basis of a transaction thereby creating transactional relationships. That site must be closed,” suggested Kunene. “No black man pays a woman for companionship, they pay for sex.”

Self proclaimed Congo blesser, Serge Carbonage, who also spoke to eNCA, said the transaction with blessees was a mutual understanding as he pays women for sex while they get money for rent from him. “God chose me and blessed me so that I can bless others. The women say it for themselves, nothing for mahala. When they come to me also, there’s nothing for free.
“When I look after you and pay your rent I expect to get a benefit, I look for sex, nothing else,” Carbonage said.
The Blesserfinder founder, however, said they were overwhelmed with requests from women who want to be hooked up with rich men.
“The problem is that we’ve more females than males flocking to our site,” adding that some of their expectations are a bit too high.

“We’ve had one or two occasions where the ladies have said this guy is a chancer, he’s not a blesser. We’ve looked at the situation and realised that sometimes, the ladies are really unreasonable because they expect a blesser to give them R15,000.”

The founder – whose wife does not know of her husband’s latest business venture, said affairs on the site were kept secret. “All people have to do to be hooked up is to go on our website or Facebook and inbox their expectations, be they male or female. Only the administrators have access to the profiles which we go through to see if there’s a match.

“Once we get a match, we alert the blesser and get his number to give to the potential blessees. At any given point, the blesser will be contacted by at least six to 10 women.” Questioned about his views on monogamy since they were facilitating more than one woman for one blesser, the founder said: “We’re an ambassador for people to be allowed to live their lives in the best way without anyone trying to police their morality.

“I’m a businessperson, I chase profit not morality. If I wanted to chase morality, I’d be a priest.” On safety concerns especially regarding the vulnerable blessees, the founder said: “Remember, all we’ve done is provide a portal, it’s an online mall so the safety of anyone isn’t guaranteed. Just like Sandton City Mall, you can get there and meet a psycho.

“If a church can’t guarantee safety, you can’t expect a portal to do so, it’s an unreasonable expectation.” He said anyone was free to join their dating site which does not discriminate people with a ‘morals must fall’ policy.

© Chronicle