Doubt & desire
MaNgcobo’s bad-guy boyfriend is back in town and there’s going to be trouble…
Uzalo Weekdays SABC1 (*191) 20:30
If you think that penitent prisoner Nkunzi (Masoja Msiza) didn’t find God on Monday 31 July so much as he found a Get Out of Jail Free Card, you’re not alone. Nkunzi’s exfiancée (and ex-hostage) MaNgcobo (Dawn Thandeka King) is taking this with a big pinch of salt… and a gun in her purse. “She’s angry at the fact that he’s gotten off so easily and she’s angry at the fact that people can just buy the fact that he says he’s a changed man,” says Dawn. After all, MaNgcobo knows how easy it is to trick the system – she did it in February this year. “They are kindred spirits in that way. She escaped being arrested by pretending she was crazy.” But after Nkunzi becomes a free man on Thursday 3 August, MaNgcobo starts feeling a little pang doubt… and a little something else.
UNHAPPY RETURNS
Nkunzi makes sure that he’s got a place to stay when he returns – there is not way MaNcogbo will let him stay with her again, so he moves in with his brother Qhabanga (Siyabonga Shibe) and daughter Zekhethelo (Nyalleng Thibedi). MaNgcobo is terrified when he shows up on her doorstep on Monday 7 August – the last time he was there, after escaping jail on Tuesday 27 June, he shoved a gun in her face and held her hostage in a rage. “Their first encounter is not good. She pulls a gun on him because he follows her to the house. She does not trust him,” says Dawn. MaNgcobo is still wary when he tells her that all he wants is to apologise and get his stuff. But on Tuesday 8 August, Nkunzi tries a trust exercise with MaNgcobo by offering to let her shoot him.
A NEW NKUNZI
Instead of pulling the trigger, she starts listening to the rumours about the new and improved Nkunzi. “She doesn’t buy it at first. But her daughter Nosipho (Nompilo Maphumulo) stays at Qhabanga’s place and she keeps telling MaNgcobo about the things that he is doing that side. He is cooking, he prays a lot, he reads the Bible. MaNgcobo gets to a point where she wants to see this for herself,” says Dawn. She takes a look at the one thing she has left of Nkunzi’s on Monday 14 August, and comes up with a plan. “She realises that this is the only way she can get to him, by returning the belt he forgot behind. Nobody would believe that, of course,” laughs Dawn. “It’s an excuse to go and see him. They have this very awkward conversation, a conversation that is had between people who are into each other but who are not willing to give in to it because of circumstances. They are holding back but you can see passion.”
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Viewers will be going, “Huh, what?” There’s no forgetting that MaNgcobo ruthlessly kicked Zekhethelo out of her house despite Nkunzi’s pleas for mercy on her behalf while he was in jail… or that Nkunzi actually tried to kill MaNgcobo’s son Mxolisi (Nay Maps) in early July. But those kids don’t stand a chance when the pair lock eyes. “They really care about their children. They’re just too caught up in their own lives. There is never a point where they talk about the fact that they need to make peace with the children,” admits Dawn. “The kids are just collateral damage.”