Car trouble
From bodies in the boot to cop car capers, Mastermind is spinning his wheels.
Uzalo Weekdays SABC1 (*191) 20:30
The stolen car business is booming and Mastermind (Ntokozo Dlamini) is at the top of his game, but two jobs he pulls this fortnight should make him give serious thought to a new line of work. Shiny forbidden fruit caught his boss Nkunzi’s (Masoja Msiza) eye on Friday 3 November and on Thursday 9 November, Nkunzi sets Mastermind his most daring hijack to date. And the sweat has barely dried on Mastermind’s forehead on Monday 13 October when a stolen car lands him in another nightmare.
UNDER THEIR NOSES
Nkunzi has a job for Mastermind after he spots Captain Mthimkhulu’s (Sfiso Simamane) hot new wheels on Friday 3 November. “He bought a Mercedes G-Wagen, which is a R2 million car,” reveals Ntokozo. “Nkunzi says that he specifically wants the Captain’s car. Mastermind says, ‘Let me get you a different car or a better colour one, I can steal it.’ But no, Nkunzi wants the exact one that Captain Mthimkhulu is
driving. It’s not about the car. It’s more of Nkunzi getting back at the Captain,” explains Ntokozo. “Mastermind is terrified but he has to do it or he’ll lose his job. The car is parked at the police station, but when the Captain walks out, the car that he’s only had for two or three days is gone.” Tune in on Friday 10 November to see cheeky and smug Nkunzi in “his” new G-Wagen.
EXTRA FEATURE
Then Mastermind swipes a car with a little something “extra” on Monday 13 November. “He goes to some house where there are a bunch of cars parked outside. He thinks there’s a party and he steals a car and drives off, only to find out that the party was actually a funeral,” says Ntokozo. It’s only when Mastermind pops the boot open that he discovers his mistake. “He finds an urn with ashes! He’s stolen the corpse!” This is Mastermind’s second body-inthe-boot catastrophe. On Wednesday 17 August 2016, he and his partner-incrime Mxolisi (Nay Maps Maphalala) found the corpse of a murdered woman in the boot of a car they’d just nicked too – and that escape landed them behind bars. A funeral urn may not prove as dangerous, but it doesn’t mean it’s no big deal to Mastermind.
LAST RESPECT
“It’s a touchy subject for Mastermind because in August 2016 there was that whole drama about someone burying a body on top of his dad’s body,” explains Ntokozo, remembering Uzalo’s “grave rental” scandal storyline. “It brings up those feelings, so he’s a bit emotional. He’s determined to take the urn back because he might be a thief, but he respects people who have passed on and he knows that you don’t bother someone when they are mourning – not unless you want bad luck.” But Nkunzi isn’t in an understanding mood when Mastermind approaches him on Wednesday 15 November. “Mastermind wants to just go dump the car [back at the house] and throw their keys inside the yard and run! But on Thursday 16 November, Nkunzi warns, ‘If you take this car back I will kill you’.” He means it, so Mastermind must find a way to “un-steal” the urn. Time for the most dangerous game of Tok-tokkie ever!
THE WHEEL DEAL
Playing a car thief sometimes puts Ntokozo in an awkward position. “The funny thing is that people who actually steal cars have approached me and they’re very friendly,” he reveals. “Some of them feel they can open up to me because I’m also a ‘ thief’. They tell me, ‘We respect what you’re doing and we look up to you’. It’s horrific because we’re trying to fight crime in our country and if people who steal are proud of what they’re doing, we still have a long way to go. So I say, ‘No man, this is not right.’ I try and counsel them and I try to talk them out of the life of crime.”