Meet the buppies

Thu, 29 Apr 2004 21:05:00 +0000

Tshepo Boikanyo signs his name on the dotted line and in an instant becomes the proud owner of a $70,000 BMW. The 33-year-old lawyer, dressed sharp in a black suit, glides across the floor of the BMW dealership to ogle his new car. "I considered buying a Jaguar, but I opted for the BMW after test-driving one. And this is a black dealership, so I felt I had to bring my business here," he says. Litha Nkombisa, one of the dealership's four owners, hands him a bottle of champagne and the keys to his titanium silver 525 Coupe. "You see, they take care of me here," Boikanyo says. "It's like a second home."

It's Friday afternoon, the busiest time of the week at Joburg City Auto, South Africa's first black-owned car dealership. It sells only BMWs. Young black men stroll in unannounced during the lunch hour, accompanied by well-groomed girlfriends who coolly eye a fresh supply of polished "beemers," also jokingly known as "black man's worry," or "be my wife."

Salon.com > Jennifer Abrahamson

Meet the buppies