Absolute power
Mergers and acquisitions or murders and executions – it’s all the same to Sanil Maharaj.
Sanil Maharaj (Jack Devnarain) has been carefully burrowing into Maluju Oil since Friday 1 June so that the moment opportunity strikes, so can he. And this is his moment. With the Bhengu family in meltdown thanks to that paternity secret, Sanil stages a boardroom coup on Thursday 27 December, ousting Maluju founder Ngcolosi “Zimele”
Bhengu (Tony Kgoroge) from his position as CEO. “He is gleeful, practically rubbing his hands at the prospect of exploiting the situation,” says Jack. “He is at his cunning best. While the thunderstorm of emotional conflicts take place around him, Sanil is just quietly observing, knowing that while he is central to all of it, he is really not involved. It’s quite comfortable to be an instigator, poking and prodding, getting huge emotional reactions from everyone around him while he quietly manipulates the situation and contains his delight while he does so. It’s his happy place really.” But Jack warns, “Whatever you think of Maharaj, he is even worse than that…”
THE SEEDS
Maharaj has chipped away at the ties within the Bhengu family and among their allies. He gleefully manoeuvred Zimele’s daughter Zakithi (Nokubonga Khuzwayo) into position to betray her own dad. “He treats people as opportunities. She is a bargaining chip, no more,” says Jack. But his greatest triumph actually has its roots in the Bhengus’ own abuse of loyalties. Sanil sowed the seeds of utter destruction when Zimele’s son Nganono Bhengu (Xolani Mfeka) nearly killed Zethu (Nonsindiso Gcaba), the daughter of his family’s most loyal ally Phunyuka (Mduduzi Nombela), by secretly dosing her with an abortion pill to force her to miscarry their baby on Thursday 11 October.
CAPTURING LOYALTY
Grieving and furious, Phunyuka acci- dentally caused Nganono’s death on Tuesday 6 November by chasing him down a flight of stairs and Nganono slipped and fell. When Maharaj stumbled upon his sloppy cover-up attempt on Wednesday 28 November, he had his real key to seizing Maluju. “His biggest bargaining chip in order to stay ahead of Zimele is to use Phunyuka. He and Zimele are childhood friends. Phunyuka knows all of Zimele’s dark secrets and he never ever wants it to get out that he is the one who killed Nganono. Sanil is going to use this to solidify his position within the company and, ultimately, to get rid of Zimele,” says Jack.
DIGGING DEEPER
Sanil has Phunyuka so firmly in his hand that he’s even able to order him to commit murder on Tuesday 1 January. Dark for sure, but Maharaj reveals the true depths to which he will sink on Tuesday 1 January when he goes to dig up Nganono’s corpse. “Stories like this remind me that the character is more than happy to get his hands dirty. He is happy to get stuck right in and plan and execute the ugliest of deeds. It doesn’t get dirtier or more dangerous than Sanil,” Jack says enthusiastically. “I am astounded at the man, at the character. It makes me wonder about his past. I think there are shades of being an absolute psychopath.”
BURY HIM!
And why would the man who now has everything want a burnt corpse too? “He doesn’t care if the company survives or not. He is a destroyer. He wants to unbundle the company and sell it off in bits, positioning himself to take the lion’s share. Ultimately this was a company that was built on family bonds and trust between the Rampersads and the Bhengu family. His primary objective is to get them to witness the destruction of their legacy. And Sanil knows that of all the people involved, Zimele is probably the one most capable of ruining his plans.” But by using Nganono’s corpse, Maharaj has a diabolical plot to stop Zimele dead in his tracks.