Pretoria - The so-called Mavuso and no-panties sex gatherings were degrading to the people of the capital and bringing the liquor trade into disrepute, said informal traders who descended on Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, on Wednesday afternoon.
They chanted “Mavuso must fall” as they entered taverns, some of which were featured on the eNCA programme CheckPoint last week as the host venues for the sex stokvels.
“Mavuso” is township slang for money given to a woman after she has spent the night with a man. At the stokvels, each member pays an amount for the week.
Subsequent negotiations then take place between the member and a woman of his choice. They then agree on a fee for spending the night together.
The party may attend social functions together as a couple before retreating to a love nest. Mavuso is held alongside another sex gathering, known as no-panties.
Oupa Mthombeni, leader of the Concerned Tshwane Liquor Traders Association, said their tough action against the taverns was intended to put an end to the stokvels.
He said the phenomenon was shameful to the dignity of the tavern trade and the city in general.
“We are responsible liquor traders and are helping the government to fight HIV and Aids as well as other social issues. Anything that tampers with that must stop,” said Mthombeni.
Hundreds of members of the organisation, accompanied by the police, targeted three taverns believed to host the stokvels, including the one featured on TV.
Mthombeni reprimanded the tavern owners.
He warned them that if they continued to host the stokvels, their businesses would be closed down. “We can’t let an activity like this go on like it is normal.
“I have been selling liquor for 21 years and have never seen something like this appalling activity.”
Mthombeni said the sex stokvels took place on weekdays and continued until late into the night.
The extended hours of trading, he said, were a contravention of the legislation and liquor trading regulations.
According to Shadrack Sibanda, owner of the 700 Tavern in the area, Mavuso is an age-old practice which promotes the culture of saving.
He said people got it all wrong by confusing it with prostitution. His tavern has been hosting the stokvels since last June.
Sibanda was ordered to stop because the gatherings were leading to “disgusting” results, which he promised to do.
Teresa Maponya, whose mother Thati Maponya also hosted Mavuso in their Nuwe Eersterus tavern, told the concerned liquor traders that their last stokvel was last month.
Maponya said they regularly hosted Mavuso and no-panties events, and she had witnessed young women accompanying older men to the gatherings.
“The girls wore short skirts with no underwear, and would perform inappropriate dance moves, revealing their private parts in the process,” she said.
“My father would sit here watching all those things. But we sat down as a family and agreed to stop hosting the stokvel.
“I would not allow my father to continue seeing such things.”
Elsie Moema, who owns a liquor store in the area, said she also hosted these stokvels and was a member.
However, she said she had stopped after the police intervened a few weeks ago.
When all was said and done, the liquor traders not only left the tavern owners with instructions to stop Mavuso and no-panties gatherings, they gave them boxes of condoms for their patrons.