Uzalo
Thobile takes the law into her own hands when her uncle Mbhekiseni picks a new victim.
Uzalo Mon-Wed SABC1 (*191) 20:30
Salon stylist Thobile (Nokuthula Mabika) was horrified when she saw a face from her past on Friday 12 May. Not only is MaMlambo’s (Gugu Gumede) new boyfriend Mbhekiseni (Simo Magwaza) related to her – he’s the uncle who raped her repeatedly from when she was just 12 years old. On Thursday 18 May, she laid charges against him but “honourable” Mbhekiseni had members of the church in love with his personality and charm and Thobile was branded a liar. But there are two people who know her and believe her and with GC (Khaya Dladla) and Smangele’s (Sihle Ndaba) love and support, Thobile is fighting for truth and justice.
FRIENDS & FAITH
GC and Smangele’s support in the face of everyone else’s denial literally saves Thobile’s life. “It means so much to her and that’s what makes her survive the whole situation. There’s a time when she wants to kill herself (on Tuesday 23 May) but she thinks, ‘I have done so much for myself. I have built a whole life for myself. I have friends, regardless of the past I have. It’s not perfect, but the life that I have made for myself in KwaMashu is beautiful because of these two’.”
DID HE REALLY?
Everyone else seems eager for Thobile to drop the subject – and not for the first time. “After her mother died, her uncle started raping her. Her grandmother tried to hide it from the outside world. She tried to make Thobile believe that she was just imagining things. At that time, I don’t think that Thobile was even angry at her. She was probably like, ‘My grandmother doesn’t understand what is happening to me,’” explains Nokuthula. It was only in her late teens after her grandmother died and her uncle’s abuse escalated that Thobile ran away to KwaMashu.
SECRETS & LIES
And Nokuthula reveals that Thobile’s community actually does believe her. “She can see it in their eyes. It’s just that they don’t really want to confront the situation,” she explains. They are also picking up on a seam of doubt in Thobile herself. “Her uncle tells everyone that the time that she claims he was molesting her was around the same time that her cousins had just died too. And since Thobile had forgotten that, she gets a little confused.” But the abuse isn’t a fantasy brought about by dark times – it was the trauma of abuse that had blocked out everything else in Thobile’s world.
FACING HER PAST
Despite the confusion, “Deep down there is that feeling,” says Nokuthula. “She goes to visit her uncle, but when she gets there the uncle has a young girl on his lap and he’s doing the exact same thing to her as he did to Thobile,” says Nokuthula. “It triggers a rage in her!” Thobile confronts her uncle at the shisanyama on Thursday 1 June and puts a bullet in him. And while she’s led away in handcuffs and tears on Friday 2 June, Thobile is soon going to have a lot more sympathisers…