We went out on the Braamfontein streets to ask the youth what they thought about “blesser culture” in South Africa and if young girls really knew what they were getting themselves into by seeking out a blesser.

The consensus was that young women feel pressured by social media to live and portray a certain kind of lifestyle and if they were not from a privileged background then becoming a blessee was on their list of options.

MTV Shuga DS told the story of Tsholo and Sol who were in a transactional relationship where Sol was in the role of power as the blesser and Tsholo who became more submissive to him as their relationship progressed. In the course of their relationship Tsholo was sexually assaulted, physically and emotionally abused and in the end, ridiculed by her peers for what they considered as her “selling herself” for material possessions.

Here’s what the people on the streets had to say.

Part 1

Part 2

Videography: Xongani Maluleka