The popular Shuga gets a South African flavour for its upcoming season
THE HIGHLY anticipated fifth season of MTV Shuga, filmed in South Africa for the first time, has revealed its new cast.
The star-studded line-up for Shuga: Down South includes local hip hop star Kwesta, Nigerian Afro-pop diva Seyi Shay, as well as a host of established names and new faces.
The series, which is an international hit, has courted controversy in the past for its sexual subject matter.
It has also provided a launch pad for stardom – Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o made her acting debut on this series.
Set partially in Braamfontein, Shuga will chronicle the lives of young South Africans searching for their place in the world while resisting temptation and societal pressures.
Ngud hit-maker Kwesta and Shay will be making appearances as themselves in the new series, which premières on March 8.
“I cameo on two episodes,” said Kwesta.
“I’m in the studio helping out a character called Bongi with a song. So, I pretty much play myself more than anything.”
As a first-time actor, Kwesta seems chuffed about his role.
“I enjoyed acting. I’m not much of an actor but it was really dope. I have a couple of lines, so I’m not just showing my face and pressing buttons.
“I’m acting for those two episodes, so I just hope I didn’t do too badly.”
Adding further star power to the cast are actor and presenter Phila Mazibuko and child star Given Stuurman, who first made a name for himself when he starred in a Postbank advert.
In the ad, Stuurman tells the girl’s amused father that he can’t pay lobolo since he’s only a primary school kid, but he will instead provide packets of steak every month.
In Shuga, Stuurman plays a character called Reggie – a teenage boy who, he believes, is going to create a stir.
“He’s the character who changes a lot of social ideas of what a teenage boy should be.
“For me, it’s going to shock a lot of people because Reggie is telling a story that has never been told before.”
The casting process for Shuga also gave undiscovered talent the chance to prove their mettle.
In an open audition in October last year, the producers decided on Samkelisiwe Makhoba.
She plays the character Khensani Chauke, a 15-year-old girl from Soweto.
“I’m new to this thing (acting). I was found at the open auditions so it’s my first time doing this,” Makhoba said.
“I was thrown into the deep end with the character, who experiences a roller-coaster of emotions. I had to just jump in and do it all at once. It’s been amazing so far, with a lot of learning along the way.”
Makhoba’s quest for stardom meant a long wait in the queue of hopefuls, but her perseverance paid off.
“I got there at 9am and I left at 7pm. I had nothing to eat. I was starving but I don’t know where I got the energy to go into the audition room and do my thing. And I’m here. How? I don’t know,” she said, beaming with excitement.
Georgia Arnold, the executive director of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, says the idea to film Shuga in South Africa had been on the radar for a while.
“For me, it’s real exciting because we’ve been planning to get to South Africa for a long time. Since we started, we always had this plan to go from Kenya where we discovered Lupita Nyong’o – it was her first acting series. We feel like we were part of her Oscar win, we take a little bit of ownership with that,” she said.
“We moved from there (Kenya), we moved to Nigeria and we’ve always wanted to come to South Africa. One of the things we’ve done (to show this) is by calling MTV Shuga ‘Down South’. We are sort of giving it a South African label and heart as well, so for us also we can tackle some issues that culturally we may not have discussed in Kenya or Nigeria.
“It gives us another opportunity to be able to tackle really difficult issues that we need young people to understand and that resonates with them, and they can see their lives reflected and then take good, positive action around that,” she said.