'I will rise again,' says Venda porn king

Nine years ago, adult-movie maker Zwoluga Madega built himself a thriving empire specialising in ethnic Venda porn movies. At the time, Madega, who was 34 years old, owned the only adult movie shop and production company, called Hanzam Films and Adult Shop, located in a double-storey building in the heart of Thohoyandou. Business was booming, with movies such as the fast-selling “Banana Volume #2”, “Bush Pie Volume #2” among the most sought-after by adult movie lovers.

Madega planned to host an expansive “porn festival” on 16 June 2014, where live shooting and auditions for adult movies were expected to take place. This, however, had to be cancelled when the Thulamela Municipality withdrew the venue billed to host the event after they discovered what the venue was hired for.

This started the crumbling of the Hanzam empire, and Madega disappeared from the spotlight. The backlash from community organisations caused him to keep a low profile, and for a number of years he seems to have avoided the limelight.

But fans of the sex-movie maker kept on wondering what had happened to him and even inquired from the newspaper as to his whereabouts. Limpopo Mirror decided to try and find him.

The first stop in the search led our reporter to the heart of Thohoyandou CBD, and straight to the man himself.

The good news is that Madega is alive and kicking. But unlike the high life the porn king used to live, he now seemed to be making a humble living as a hawker, selling anything from toothbrushes to shoe polish and pens. The irony is that he is conducting his business right in front of the ground-floor entrance leading to his former offices at the Matidza Complex.

Rumours claim that the former movie mogul has been hit by hard times and is struggling to make ends meet. Madega denied this, however. “The cancellation of the much-anticipated show, which we ultimately had to cancel due to the lack of a suitable venue, dealt me a big blow in terms of business. I spent a fortune on the project and all the logistics. Some of those who were involved in the project turned down the request to postpone the event. Our business was also searched by the Hawks. After the bad publicity around the project, many did not want to identify themselves with the project anymore. We lost a lot in terms of business, which led to the total collapse of our company.”

Madega said that people from all corners of the country had booked their tickets for the show and paid in advance. “I had to do refunds that amounted to many thousands of rands. That was a great setback for me. The rumour that I am down and out, however, is not true at all but spread by jealous people who were always against my prosperity. The fact is that I am cooking up a storm. I even purchased new cameras, and soon they will be rolling. Watch this space. I am still in the game. As we speak, I am also in the courier business while I hawk. I cannot just sit around and do nothing while I wait for my core business to kick off. To the haters, stop spreading lies,” Madega said.

Date:08 December 2023

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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