Khanyi Mbau

Khanyi Mbau Image via Instagram: @mbaureloaded

Lessons on lessons: Khanyi’s Dubai drama and the importance of vex cash

Khanyi Mbau ditched her rich bae in Dubai and started trending. She also brought up a serious conversation about the need for ‘vex money.’

Khanyi Mbau

Khanyi Mbau Image via Instagram: @mbaureloaded

As a young lady, I am no stranger to the concept of “vex money.” Growing up, I was always warned to keep some money in my purse before I left the house on a date or even an outing with some girlfriends. In my own mother’s words “you never know what could go wrong.”

Khanyi Mbau recently showed women across the world just how important vex money is.

Vex money and Khanyi Mbau

The term vex money originated in the Caribbean and refers to the “emergency” money ladies keep in their purses in case they are stranded or stood up. Here in South Africa, we may not have referred to it as vex money but countless times we have been told by our mothers never to leave the house with some money in case anything happened.

The importance of this was highlighted recently when South African socialite Khanyi Mbau ran into a bit of trouble with her Zimbabwean millionaire boyfriend Kudzai Mushonga while vacationing in Dubai.

While details of exactly what went down in their luxury UAE suite on 31 August this year remain foggy, we do know that Mbau was not going to sit there and wait for things to work out.

Instead, she grabbed her designer handbag and took to the airport with a plane ticket headed straight to South Africa, her home.

ALSO READ: Dubai to dust: Are Khanyi Mbau and Kudzai Mushonga still dating?

Being a socialite obviously means having quite a bit of vex money because flying from Dubai is not cheap, but that’s not to say us normal gals should forget about vex money since this lover’s spat’s can happen just a few hours away from our homes.

How to make sure you have vex money

While it started out as transport fare back home from a failed date, vex money is important for any kind of rainy day.

In fact, Shafeeqah Isaacs, head of financial education at DirectAxis says that there are some financial basics that every woman should know, because well, anything can happen.

According to Isaacs in an IOL article, women should be honest with themselves about their financial situation and use this information to adjust their income to their expenses.

“There are only two ways to do this – either you need to earn more, which is easier said than done, or you need to cut back on your spending,” she says.

Once you’ve sorted that out and can see what you’re working with, she advises you to do your budget and allocate your money towards all the important aspects of your life such as groceries and your rent or bond. Thereafter, aim to save some of your vex money before splurging all your cash on entertainment and clothing.

ALSO READ: Prophet says Khanyi Mbau must turn to God following Dubai drama [watch]