Who is Vernon Koekemoer?

The fame and legendary status attributed to the likes of David Hasselhoff and Mr Norris has now been visited on a South African: one Vernon Koekemoer.As the man's celebrity grows to cult status, the question is: "Who is Vernon Koekemoer?"It all started when a photograph of a well-built guy in somewhat creative attire began causing a stir as it was circulated on email.

The picture (Shown Above) shows a staunch man, beer in hand and sporting a mullet, standing alone amid a group of people relaxing on the lawns at what is said to have been the annual H2O rave that took place in Boksburg on March 8.

He is wearing shorts, boots, a thick gold chain around his neck and a checked blouse. The picture captured imaginations and people began creatively messing with the image. A group of animated fans started a "Make Vernon Koekemoer Famous" group on the facebook social networking website. It quickly attracted hordes of fans, but was closed down a few days later with an impressive 1 378 members.

"The thing is, he's a real human … who might not like what's happening to him online. It's not about how big he is and how much pain he could inflict on us, it's about how much pain we could be inflicting on him. And yeah, that might sound cheesy, but we're just not willing to take that risk anymore," the group's web page declared as the reason for closing.Meanwhile the image of Vernon continued to be altered, manipulated and Photoshopped, creating much amusement as the end results were circulated via email, posted on facebook and punted on several other blogs and websites. These include the Afrikaans blog www.watkykjy.co.za and ramboguy.co.za.

Another group named "Make Vernon Koekemoer famous … again" opened up on Facebook and by noon on Wednesday had close to 1 000 members."We decided that the world has not had enough of … the man … VERNON KOEKEMOER," the group's description declares, urging members to make him famous by cutting, cropping and pasting the image into "exotic places, historical moments, and general moments of awesomeness".

Members have posted messages and suggestions as to how Koekemoer's legendary status could be observed, such as naming a Steers burger after him. The group's disclaimer states that should the real life individual now known publicly as Vernon Koekemoer come forward, he will be given the chance to decide on the fate of the group which will be closed immediately should he not want to be famous. Alternatively "we will help him become a celebrity".

Anyone who knows the true identity of "Vernon Koekemoer" or has more information on his legendary status trip is requested to email gillian.gifford@inl.co.za or call The Star newsdesk on 011-633 2411/2410.