I’ll be watching you
Namhla’s got her eye on her teacher, but her little crush soon turns into a creepy obsession.
It’s not easy living with a family of gangsters, but namhla (thulisile phongolo) seems to have made it work. the teen is pretty, smart and has adjusted to her mom’s return from jail after an eight-year absence from her life. that was until namhla saw a man being killed and was then held captive by a gangster last month. now that she’s messed up emotionally, some love and affection from a concerned teacher has become grossly misinterpreted – she’s stalking mr sokhulu (batsile ramasodi), who has no idea that his kind words are being misread by his student.
teacher’s pet
namhla’s inappropriate crush stems from never having known non-romantic love, explains thulisile. “her teacher mr sokhulu shows the care that she’s been longing for and she mistakes it for something else,” she says. “her family’s not soft and that’s why she’s vulnerable and reacts this way to being shown love.” but her feelings come to a head on friday 20 february when she hears that mr sokhulu is coming over to the diales to speak to her mom lucy (manaka ranaka) about the impending school trip to london. “she has mixed feelings,” says thulisile. “her uncle cosmo (ronnie nyakale) and lucy tend to intimidate people and say the wrong thing. but at the same time, namhla’s glad that he’s taking a step in a direction that’s more personal.”
every move you make
“anyone’s capable of being a stalker, but namhla takes it to another level,” says thulisile of her plan on wednesday 25 february: timid namhla watches her teacher’s every move. “he gets hints here and there when she becomes attentionhungry and stays after class, but he’s not sure,” says batsile. maybe if he took a look around him once in a while, he’d see namhla at the table next to him at a coffee shop or peeking from behind the weights at the gym. “she does it subtly, where there are lots of people and it’d be believable that they’d just bumped into each other if she was caught,” batsile says. but how is namhla getting around with no car and tons of homework? her new best friend – who’s secretly crushing on her – kyle (garion dowds). “she likes who he is as a person and knows he’d go to certain extremes for her,” thulisile says. she’s got him so wrapped around her finger that he and his driver chauffeur her around town in her love pursuit.