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One of the country’s most-loved TV shows has landed in further trouble after losing another sponsor.
Vodacom is the second major sponsor to pull out of Mzansi Magic’s Our Perfect Wedding – which has over a million viewers – after last Sunday’s episode which many slammed for romanticising and promoting statutory rape.
The episode featured Bavelile Mkhwanazi who met her husband, Fanie, when she was 14 and he was 28.
On the show, he boasted that he used to “pick up” and “sleep with” many “girls” at school but Bavelile won his heart.
On Friday, Vodacom’s executive head of corporate Affairs, Tshepo Ramodibe, confirmed to City Press that they have cancelled the sponsorship.
“We have engaged M-NET and resolved to cancel our sponsorship of the show,” he said.
Basetsana Kumalo, CEO of Connect TV which produces the show, and Mzansi Magic’s PR head Nondumiso Mabence declined to comment on another big sponsor exit.
Ramodibe said that Vodacom was until Monday an associate sponsor of the show which “has so far been a positive celebration of love and the journey that the couple takes leading up their wedding day,”
“Regrettably, the recent episode and sentiments expressed were directly opposite to our corporate values and what our brand stands for,” he said.
On Monday evening after a massive public outcry, Absa tweeted that they were withdrawing their sponsorship of the show.
Although Kumalo declined to comment on the loss of Vodacom as a sponsor, she told City Press on Thursday that Absa had every right to make decisions on sponsorship strategy.
She also admitted that a “lapse” led to the flighting of the programme which continues on the channel tonight. “The episode shown should never have been broadcast,” she said.
“Unfortunately, in this case some issues were not being picked up during the process. It is not acceptable and we are putting measures in place to see that this can never happen again,” Kumalo said on Thursday.
She added that it was of great concern that nobody on the production team and the channel had picked up that this was such a “volatile subject”.
“There is clearly a need to review training and understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. The matter of underage relationships is very serious and something we do not condone. It is imperative that our staff know how to deal with issues of this magnitude appropriately.”
She said couples write in to the show and are then invited to the production house to “audition” by telling the producers their back story which is shot and presented to channel.
This week, City Press visited the Mkhwanazis’ home in Etwatwa on the East Rand. The newlyweds were nowhere to be seen; their house and gate were locked.
Neighbours who asked not to be named told City Press that they haven’t seen the couple since Monday.
“They regret why they agreed to be on the show. They are really devastated and Fanie is not taking this very well,” said a neighbour.
Mkhwanazi is popular in his township. He is known for transporting school children with his Toyota Siyaya taxi, which he named “Sound Producer”.
“Back in the days he was the womaniser but since he met Bavelile he had stopped his cheating ways,” said another neighbour.
On Friday, Mkhwanazi broke his silence he vehemently apologised saying he never meant to hurt anyone.
On Monday, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng lodged a complaint at the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA against the show.
The commission’s registrar Shouneez Martin said it had already received an apology from M-Net and would finalise its report early next year.
But Mofokeng is adamant M-NET’s apology should not be the only restoration and the broadcaster should also open a criminal charge against its OPW guest.
“M-NET needs to show that they now understand section 54 of the sexual offences act. I’m not going to do their clean-up,” she said.
She said M-NET has the footage and must be responsible.
On Sunday, Mkhwanazi boasted of how he targeted young girls for sex and how he used to sleep with three or four girls a day. That’s how he met his wife whom he married on the show.
“After the school rush hour, I would come back with a schoolgirl and take her home. When I dropped her off, I would come back with another girl,” he said.
These girls were younger than 16 and according to the Sexual Offences Amendment Act having sex with them is a crime.
Mkhwanazi spoke to City Press this week begging for forgiveness.
“I would like to apologise to everyone. It wasn’t my intention to hurt everyone, but I wanted people to know that I’m not proud of my past.”
He said that the message he was trying to convey to the viewers was that he was a “changed man”.
Little did he know that he had revealed himself as a statutory rapist on a television especially during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.
– Additional Reporting, Lucky Nxumalo
