Theunis Crous takes away the keys of the BMW Khanyi Mbau had been zooming around in. Inset: Businessman Theunis.
The black BMW Z4 stops, the driver’s face hidden behind large fashionable sunglasses. Socialite KHANYI MBAU (24) gets out and tries to sweet-talk her married lover, construction tycoon THEUNIS CROUS (51).
Theunis is clearly angry - she disappeared three days ago. He reaches into the car and grabs the keys from her, yelling and cursing.
We’re witnessing the latest drama in Khanyi’s life.
Theunis moved to Gauteng from Port Elizabeth with his wife and business partner, Primrose, and their two young children 18 months ago to be closer to the government. He has powerful ANC connections and the government gives his construction company most of its business.
But his marriage is at risk after he moved out of the family home in Dainfern, Joburg, and into a R10 000-a-month love nest in Hyde Park with Khanyi. He bought the BMW for her.
“I don’t want to throw dirt on her,” Theunis says later, after a screaming match that seemed to have ended their relationship. “During the affair everything was good. I’m a man and she’s a beautiful woman - who would not want to be with her?
“But when you get to know her you realise she doesn’t like men. It’s almost as if she has a vendetta against them. She sees men as meal tickets, nothing more. She knows how to play a man. She pulls you into her web then controls you.”
Theunis is now desperate to put things right with his family. “I was at home last night and Primrose and I talked. She’s still angry and hurt but I was allowed to stay. It will take time but my family is most important in my life.”
Grey-haired Theunis has now split from Khanyi. “If she were a better person she could have walked a path with me,” he says. “But now there will be no more fast cars, fast planes or fast cash.”
*Khanyi could not be reached for comment.