[imagesource: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty]

While the majority of us have been out here trying to stretch our paycheck over the festive season, someone else was forking out R1,3 million for just six hours at one restaurant.

The high-flyer footed the bill on January 8, which has since gone viral on Twitter, at 012 Lifestyle Brooklyn, a “trendy place” per The Citizen, situated in the Brooklyn Mall, Pretoria.

The patrons had less of a feast and more of a lavish booze-up with alcohol brands that Beyoncé and Jay-Z would be proud of.

Apparently, it was in celebration of a friend’s birthday.

Behold:

Moer 😭 pic.twitter.com/wO2BGLFEaa

— K U L A N I (@kulanicool) January 9, 2022

You don’t have to squint:

Image: Tshilamulela Thabelo Iven

The bill was confirmed to be real via The South African, but that hasn’t stopped Twitter sleuths, who are less than impressed by the extravagant bill, from probing the situation a little further.

I mean, there are a few things about this bill that don’t totally add up.

Like the fact that the local bar and restaurant is unlikely to stock that much luxury booze, or the fact that those products might not actually be available in South Africa.

That is according to someone who has spent her life in the alcohol industry – South African wine personality, Carrie Adams.

She said via BizNews that to the best of her knowledge, “all three products [Ace of Spades Rosé (better known as Armand de Brignac) (see header image), Veuve Clicquot Rich, and Dom Perignon] are not available from the supplier as we speak”.

Folks are eager to point out how this whole situation could also be a way to clean out a giant cash pile through money laundering, reported Cape Town Etc.

Then, the identity of the high-flyer who was willing to spend such a fortune on fermented grapes was fished out.

It turns out, the benefactor is a music label owner and self-proclaimed prophet from Zimbabwe, going by the name Passion Java:

I’m guessing it is no coincidence prophets and profits sound exactly the same. One quite often follows the other. There’s a lot of money to be made in the ministry in South Africa. And, if a church is designated a public benefit organisation (PBO) by SARS, then tithes are tax-exempt.

There’s certainly no shortage of self-proclaimed prophets this side of the Limpopo River but I’ll admit, it’s the first time I’ve heard about Java. He’s a big deal apparently. In fact, he was rated the most influential Zimbabwean last year according to the Zimbabwe Voice publication.

If heads weren’t turning already, they are now:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Passion Java (@prophetpassion)

A video later popped up of the bacchanalia:

Some clips from the R1,3 Million bill @012_Lifestyle Brooklyn Pretoria bought by Prophet Passion Java celebrating one of his friends’ birthdays pic.twitter.com/UCcNCUzQx8

— Mosh (@_DJMosh) January 10, 2022

At least there’s proof that the party wasn’t just for two, and the booze wasn’t only drunk, because I don’t know if anyone can stomach more than 800 glasses of champagne in six hours.

As Adams said, whatever is really going on, either way, “it’s a disturbing message being sent by a man of the cloth”.

At least the waiter took a sizeable tip home after all that.

[sources:citizen&biznews&capetownetc]