Goodbye thug life
Mastermind wants to turn his back on being a gangster, but he won’t get away that easily.
Uzalo Weekdays SABC1 (*191) 20:30
When Smangele (Sihle Ndaba) died on Wednesday 14 February following a heist shoot-out, her brother Mastermind (Ntokozo “TK” Dlamini) lost his last surviving family member. “He was doing all the bad things that he was doing in order to provide a life for Smangele. His goal was to provide Smangele with a nice house where she could have her own room and her own bathroom, like normal kids have. Now that she’s gone, he is caught offguard. He doesn’t know why he is actually alive,” says TK. Smangele’s death has brought tears and questions, but it has also given Mastermind new determination. “He has vowed that he will not go back to crime, because Smangele hated it. He is going to try to get a proper, honest job and live a straight and clean life’.” It’s easier said than done though…
A LOVE, A HOUSE, A JOB
On Wednesday 28 February, Mastermind goes house hunting with his old flame and Smangele’s best friend Thobile (Nokuthula Mabika). “He enjoys having someone who still cares about him genuinely. The house hunting invitation is Mastermind being slick so that he can spend more time with her and rekindle the spark,” admits TK. Mastermind starts another new chapter when he lands a job as a driver for a delivery company on Thursday 1 March. But he isn’t ready for what it’s going to do to his smooth image. “It’s a funny thing and I think the audience is going to love that. He has the worst uniform! It’s an orange overall and they’ve cut patches out of it and added blue sleeves and a blue collar and they’ve tried to make it look nice but it isn’t Mastermind’s style,” reveals TK. And instead of his flashy wheels, when Master takes Thobile out on a date on Wednesday 7 March, it’s in the unstylish company van.
HIJACKER HIJACKED
On date night, Mastermind finds out how the other half live when armed gunmen stop his van. “He thinks it’s a normal hijacking,” says TK. But when the gunmen push a bag over his head and start dragging him away, Mastermind expects the worst. “He is really scared for Thobile! As they drag Mastermind away, he is screaming, ‘Don’t touch my girlfriend, just don’t touch her please!’ Many South Africans have lived through that and through situations even more traumatic than that. I’ve never been hijacked but it was not easy playing that scene,” says TK. “When Mastermind hijacks people, he feels power over them. Now he feels weak and helpless and it messes with his mind.”
AN OFFER HE CAN REFUSE
Mastermind is in a bad state when the bag comes off his head – until he realises where he is. “Qhabanga (Siyabonga Shibe) rocks up and wants Mastermind to come back into crime,” reveals TK. “But because he is still hurt about his sister, it gives him the guts to say, ‘I don’t want to live this life anymore’. He stands firm with his decision,” reveals TK. And when Mastermind sets his heart on doing something, not even Nkunzi (Masoja Msiza) waving a loaded gun right between his eyes – like he did in November 2017 when Mastermind was cleansing himself – can move him.