The organisation representing pupils announced yesterday that it was starting a campaign to educate the pupils in the province not to be tempted by flashy lifestyles promised by older men in return for sex.
“We’re launching this campaign next month to coincide with Youth Month,” said Cosas KwaZulu-Natal chairman Siyabonga Phakathi.
“The message we’re sending is clear, we want sugar daddies and so-called blessers to leave our sisters alone.
“They’re still young and must date people their age.
“They ‘blessers’ target poor girls and then infect them with HIV before they jump over to the next [poor girl] and spread the disease.
“When the girls come back to their peers, they are already carrying the virus and in turn infect boys their age,” he said.
Phakathi said they were partnering with the Treatment Action Campaign and faith-based organisations to spread the message.
Cosas is joining a range of organisations in KwaZulu-Natal who have come forward condemning the “blesser” trend sweeping through South Africa.
The provincial health department recently announced that it received R44-million to be used in campaigns against sugar daddies or “blessers”.
The programme, known as Reach for a Dream, is sponsored by the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.
Other organisations that have joined forces to fight “blessers” are the Nike Foundation, Global Fund and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Blessers” have been described as the new breed of sugar daddies, this time including wealthy younger men who, like older sugar daddies, use money to entice young women. The female who are lured into these liaisons are usually students and unemployed youths.
