The father of cover-ups
The Bhengu clan will crumble to dust unless everyone can keep raging patriarch Ngcolosi in the dark.
Imbewu Weekdays e.tv (DStv *194/Openview HD *104) 21:30
Ngcolosi has been a changed man lately – and in more ways than one since Tony Kgoroge (Mojantji in dance-themed drama Tjovitjo, 2017current) took over the role onscreen from Mpumelelo Bhulose on Friday 7 September. On Thursday 13 September, he finally comes out with the issue he’s been brooding over since his daughter Zakithi (Nokubonga Khuzwayo) told him about her memory of her mom MaZulu (Leleti Khumalo) getting into a car with a strange man. Ngcolosi asks MaZulu to her face whether she’s been cheating on him! It will be cover-up time in the Bhengu house as MaZulu, her mother-in-law MaNdlovu (Thembi Mtshali-Jones) and Ngcolosi’s brother Phakade (Sandile Dlamini) frantically try to keep Ngcolosi from uncovering the truth about Phakade fathering all the Bhengu children – and they find an unexpected ally on Friday 21 September.
UTTER DESTRUCTION
For MaZulu, there is absolutely no sense of relief about the possibility of the truth coming out – and there’s no relief in sight. “You can imagine that she is trying to keep a secret and you can see that this secret is about to come out any moment now, so she is always panicky. But she knows that once Ngcolosi finds out, their lives will be shattered, everything will be finished. The business, the family. So she’s not at all relieved,” says Leleti.
COLD SILENCE
The atmosphere in the Bhengu house quickly turns unpleasant after Ngcolosi suggests on Friday 14 September that his relationship with his supposed youngest son Zithulele (Raphael Griffiths) is difficult because he isn’t actually the boy’s real father. “In our everyday living, there is this tension from Ngcolosi. It doesn’t sit well with MaZulu that her husband does not trust her and after a 30-year marriage, because whatever she did was because she was trying to help Ngcolosi,” says Leleti. “But she can’t come out with that and say, ‘This is what I did for you. And in return you are telling me that you are not trusting me.’ MaZulu doesn’t like that if everyone is quiet, because she doesn’t know what everyone is thinking. She just wants a happy family with happy children and a happy husband.”
ZITHULELE STEPS IN
And that wish is granted from an unlikely and surprising person. After Zithulele’s biological father Phakade spilled the beans about the family’s huge secret on Thursday 23 August, Zithulele gave his mom MaZulu a lot of attitude without ever revealing why he was so angry with her. On Friday 21 September, MaZulu is in for a heartstopping shock when he tells her that he knows about her secret. “When he mentions that he has been living a lie, she blames herself all the way, even though it’s a cultural thing. Fortunately for MaZulu, Zithulele understands for whatever reason and he agrees that he is going to be beside her all the time and the truth is going to stay between the two of them.”
MaZulu’s sense of relief at this demonstration of Zithulele’s unconditional love for her is overwhelming. “It’s like when you think that everything is over and then the light comes down, that is Zithulele. It’s like somehow God has answered her prayers and she is not alone in this anymore. So maybe this was not a mistake after all.” On Monday 24 September, Zithulele will reveal his big plan for keeping daddy dearest in the dark and in true soap fashion, it’s time to tamper with that paternity test! Let the games begin…