Here comes trouble

Unruly nimza and his good friend set out to stir trouble in Turfloop.

ebel teen nimza’s (buhle maseko) efforts to find a teammate for his uncle’s pool tournament on friday 12 december have left him feeling like an outcast. no wonder he’s out to prove himself to the local boys. “kethani (given stuurman) is nimza’s last resort. luckily he’s a pool-playing king,” says buhle. it looks like tbose (cornet mamabolo) and company are about to get pool schooled.

foul friends

there’s nothing like friendly competition to encourage community spirit, unless you are charles kunutu (masilo magoro); then it’s to stir drama and attract customers to your new shop. “kethani’s taken aback by nimza’s phonecall,” says given. “but when he hears about the cash prize, he doesn’t hesitate.” after all, kethani’s street-kid background has instilled a need to hustle at every opportunity.

“the guys met at an orphanage after nimza’s mom died,” says given. “kethani doesn’t believe in authority and that’s the orphanage persona he carries with him. he’s arrogant, while nimza isn’t as outspoken.” so when the wayward kethani arrives at ma’kunutu’s front door with nimza, not only must she deal with the devil she knows, but also the one she doesn’t. “nimza’s stepmom disapproves of kethani crashing at her house. nimza didn’t even tell her that he was having a guest over,” says given.

epic showdown

by monday 15 december, ma’kunutu isn’t the only one not fond of kethani. as the competition intensifies between him, nimza, tbose and kwaito (clement maosa) in the pool tournament, there’s mayhem when charles, in cahoots with nimza and kethani, cheats. this results in tbose and kwaito losing, but they’re not fooled that easily. there’s a fist fight and the boys’ mothers are unimpressed by the violence that kethani’s brought to their otherwise peaceful town.

“he doesn’t care who says what,” says given. “once a punch is thrown, he’s in it. his ego drives him to act this way.” meanwhile, nimza, who once pushed kwaito to the ground for mistakenly thinking he was making moves on his sister, vents his anger toward his father’s killer, tbose, physically. “here we have a boy who’s an absolute genius and his world fell apart when he lost his parents,” says buhle. “kethani brings out the worst in him and confuses him, pushing him to be a typical 16-year-old who’s angry with the world. he feels the need to step up and match kethani as a rebel.”

hitting the road

nobody gets the prize money in the end, but who wins the game? “it all works out for nimza – but not how he’d intended,” says buhle. “he’s taken by the fact that it’s december and his friend’s in town.” but not for long… meikie and ma’ntuli (harriet manamela and dieketseng mnisi) threaten to lay assault charges against the teenagers unless kethani leaves, so ma’kunutu sends him away. but “nimza isn’t taking the departure lightly. in fact, he may follow kethani…” says buhle.