When her teenage son asked her "Mom, is it really you in the sex video?" a Limpopo woman knew her life was ruined.
The 13-year-old Grade 5 pupil had just seen his mother in Ninja1, one
of the pornographic films produced by Thohoyandou porn mogul Zwoluga
Madega.
"I did not know what to say, but it is me in the video," she said.
Shot in a vacant game lodge 88km north of Thohoyandou, Ninja1 has become a source of shame for the 34-year-old pregnant mother of two from Maniini village.
She claims she was coerced at gunpoint into taking part in the film.
Madega, owner of Hanzam's TV Movies, has denied the claim.
He recently angered local traditional leaders and members of a "moral regeneration" movement, Munna Ndinnyi, when news of his intention to shoot his latest porn flick, Bush Pie#3, with actors in traditional Venda costume, made headlines.
Thembi (not her real name) described Madega, 34, as an unscrupulous man who coerced and threatened vulnerable women into having sex on tape.
Thembi told The Times that she had just lost her job at a local supermarket two years ago when a friend told her about a movie-maker offering R9000 for someone to act in his "horror movie".
Thembi said Madega drove her and the friend to a lodge but she was "confused" when she found naked men and women in one of the rondavels.
She claimed Madega threatened her with a gun and she had no choice but to have sex on camera with a "sweaty" actor who did not use a condom, fearing for her life.
"I was screaming and pushing the man off me but this angered Madega. He refused to give me money afterwards, saying I did not work," she said.
She said she left the following morning "feeling dirty".
A week later her son confronted her about the video and her life changed forever.
"I did not receive a cent for that. He chases me away whenever I demand my payment.
"I hate that man. I gained a reputation as a shameful woman while he made money out of my shame," she said.
Madega said Thembi acted willingly in his porn film and was tarnishing his reputation in order to salvage hers.
Madega, who has four porn movies including Banana#3 and Bush Pie#2 under his belt, dismissed criticism of his work as unwarranted, asking why it could be "done in Soweto but not in Thohoyandou".
Police spokesman Major Mashudu Malelo said the police had heard "rumours" about women in the area being coerced into participating in the manufacture of pornography but said nothing could be done until a complaint was made to the police
