The ultimate sacrifice
Selo’s secret comes back to haunt him, but is he willing to do what it takes to protect his family?
Selo’s lies are taking hold of his daughter Reba’s health. Weekdays e.tv (*194) 20:00
The day that Selo and Mandlakazi Namane (Patrick Shai and Nambitha Mpumlwana) sacrificed someone else’s baby in place of one of their twins for wealth and power was the beginning of a curse that’s haunted them for 30 years. And now it’s time to pay. But Selo is reluctant to follow the necessary instructions from Bab’Hlongwane (Jabulani Masilela) to right the wrongs of the past and says Patrick, “He’ll do anything for his family, just not this outrageous request that’ll cost him his pride and his freedom.”
BREAKING DOWN
When the search for missing Mandlakazi points to an abduction on Wednesday 20 July, Selo is left stressed and panicking. “He’s concluded that the witchdoctor Bab’Hlongwane could somehow be behind his wife’s disappearance when Bab’Hlongwane keeps coming back to the house and instructing Selo on what to do ‘according to the ancestors’,” Patrick says, adding, “Bab’Hlongwane says that he knows where Mandlakazi is and that he [Bab’Hlongwane] needs inner peace because he’s being bothered by the ancestors telling him that Selo must come clean.”
GOING FOR BROKE
Meanwhile, Selo and Mandlakazi’s daughter Reba (Zenande Mfenyana) suffers from a series of nightmares and seizures, so Selo tries to figure out what the problem is on Thursday 21 July. “He knows what he has to do: own up to an incarcerated Nkonzo (Menzi Ngubane) about murdering his niece as a sacrifice in a black magic exchange, but he just can’t do it. Selo has too much to lose,” Patrick says. But by Friday 22 July, Selo tells a horrified Reba and her brother Tsietsi (Nyaniso Dzedze) about the family secret. “They feel betrayed by the lies and Selo tries to justify everything with the wealth and comfort they have.”
COMING CLEAN
By Thursday 28 July, Reba is refusing medical help and it’s clear to Selo that the situation is dire, but his pride stops him from visiting Nkonzo, who’s in jail after going to unlawful measures to find his niece’s remains so that he can bury her. “It’s not an easy decision as they’ll go to prison for murder,” says Patrick. “It’s a difficult time for Selo without his wife.” With both Mandlakazi’s return and Reba’s health in his hands, all that Selo has to do is confess and give up the family’s wealth earned through an innocent baby’s blood. “Eventually other forces will compel him to reveal certain things,” hints Patrick.