from www.thenewage.co.za – The star of the first black adult movie in South Africa was paid only R2 000 to shoot Mapona Volume 1, which has grossed about R3m so far.

About 200 000 DVDs have flown off the shelves and demand is growing. The DVD is selling for R150.

However, a concerned insider said the young porn star, known as “Titanic” in the movie, was having to fend for a living as a stripper at a club in Randburg.

“Titanic was only paid R2 000 and doesn’t realise that she was abused,” said the insider who asked not to be named.

Titanic at first refused to comment on the matter requesting to be paid R5 000 to tell the truth behind the movie.

“Tau thinks he is clever. He exploited me. He was supposed to pay me R4 000 but only gave me R2 000. I am willing to tell you more about this guy,” she said

The executive producer of Mapona Volume 1, Tau Morena, refused to comment on how much he paid Titanic, saying “there is a confidentiality clause in the contract we signed with all our actors that compensation will not be discussed”.

“They (actors and actresses) provided their services for a pre-negotiated fee. We don’t own the rights to them so they are not our ‘stars’,” he said

The producer of the fast-selling movie also claimed that he had sacked Titanic for making excessive demands during the shoot.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t come to an agreeable amount to work with Titanic, but managed to secure the services of the remaining cast for marketing support.”

Morena said he was not aware that his leading actress had become so destitute just three months after filming the movie that she was practically homeless.

“We contracted actors to work with us for a certain period, we were not aware of their circumstances before the filming and haven’t been subsequently informed thereafter, this hasn’t been brought to our attention,” said Morena

Since the movie launch in September, religious leaders have denounced Mapona Volume 1 saying it exploited women.

Kenneth Meshoe, leader of the African Christian Democratic Party, was quoted as saying “porn exploits women” and he was disappointed that “black South Africans chose to do something which is foreign to Africa.”

Movie critics have raised concerns about the movie’s impact on the spread of Aids.

The country has 5.6 million people who are HIV-positive out of a population of 50 million as revealed by the UN 2010 Aids report.

The South African Guild of Actors (Saga), a board representing actors, said they will not comment on the fairness of Titanic’s deal.

“We cannot comment specifically on this case but what I know is the current system on contracts in this country doesn’t work,” said secretary of Saga Carlyn De Waal-Smit.

Smit said actors were signing “buyout contracts” which meant that they would not earn additional money after the shoot.

“You get paid to shoot the movie and you relinquish your rights,” she said.

The South African Film and Publication Board said it was not getting involved.

“We don’t interfere on agreements between the producers and actors, ours is the regulatory aspect on distribution. We make sure its distributed in licenced stores and it doesn’t encourage child pornography,” said Ntabiseng May, the Board’s compliance and registration manager.

Mapona Volume 1 was filmed after subscribers of the highly explicit website sondeza.com expressed an interest in a South African black porn movie.

Morena said he was planning another movie with a bigger budget.

“The budget will naturally have to be larger, as Vol 2 will be longer, with more actors, more locations and other surprise elements which I can’t give away now.”

He would not be drawn to say if Titanic would be involved in the new movie.