Riot Hlatshwayo

Jeffrey Mabilu is 40 and has never had sex.

Nor does he want to, and this weekend he threw a lavish party to celebrate his life of celibacy. Mabilu of Matibidi village near Graskop is a happy virgin.

"I have never had sex in my life and I'm not craving it," he told an amused crowd.

Ignorant of the fact that millions of people worldwide forswear sex, mostly for religious reasons, sceptical guest, Gideon Monareng, asked Mabilu if he was normal.

Monareng said he had heard that if a man did not have sex for a long time, he would lose his mind.

"Look at me," the chaste 40-year-old shot back. "Do I look like a mental case?

"It's you guys who should be worried about contracting Aids. I'm free. I don't have those worries,"

The crowd broke into laughter when Mabilu said craving sex was no different from craving a beer - one could abstain if one so wanted. Mabilu is a maintenance worker at a resort in Hoedspruit.