Torn up inside
A scandal stands in the way of Uhuru and Thandi’s happiness.
Broken Vows Weekdays e.tv (*194) 20:00
Midrand’s finest wedding planner Thandi (Joanne Reyneke) is always cool, calm and collected. Until her adoptive brother Uhuru (Thapelo Mokoena) returns home on Tuesday 11 April, that is. “She’s been in love with him since they were teens,” Joanne explains. Now that Uhuru’s back from the Democratic Republic Of Congo, where the investigative journo was held hostage, it’s clear that the feeling is mutual. And their family – the Moswanes – fully support them.
So it should be okay for Thandi and Uhuru to go ahead with their dating, right? Wrong! According to Joanne, if Thandi allows Uhuru to get too close, the dark secret that she’s hiding may be revealed and “it’s a secret that will tear the family apart and alienate everyone,” Joanne adds. And it’s something that Thandi isn’t willing to risk, even if it means losing the love of her life [we’ve been sworn to secrecy about the true nature of the scandal].
ANOTHER MAN?
That doesn’t mean that Thandi isn’t conflicted about her feelings though, because as Joanne says, “She’s longed to be with Uhuru for all this time.” So when he asks her out to lunch on Wednesday 12 April, she accepts… only to have second thoughts and stand him up for their date on Thursday 13 April. While Thandi tries to keep her distance, Uhuru thinks that she’s playing hard to get, so he surprises her at the office on Tuesday 18 April. Uhuru finds Thandi having a chat with her best friend Lebo (Lehasa Moloi), who’s a photographer at Thandi’s wedding planning business Yours Truly Concepts. “He goes crazy,” Joanne explains. “Uhuru is threatened by Lebo and Thandi’s friendship and he thinks that ‘something’s going around here’, but he’s got it all wrong – they’re just friends. But he doesn’t understand that and wants them apart so that he can have Thandi all to himself.”
GET IT OUT
Thandi’s still not quite over Uhuru’s outburst when anonymous gifts start arriving for her on Wednesday 19 April. She wants to know who they’re from and suspecting that it’s her brother lover, she arranges to meet with Uhuru the next day on Thursday 20 April. She also wants to confront him about the altercation that he had with Lebo and the rage that she saw in him. “It hurts her to see him this angry,” Joanne says, as Thandi realises that Uhuru’s anger masks his feelings for her. She feels the same and “keeping this secret from Uhuru is eating her alive, but it’s better to keep it than destroy their family”.