SKEEM SAAM LEHASA PLAYS MAROTHI LIKE A PUPPET OVER HIS GUILTY SECRET
Lehasa uses Rachel’s disappearance to get his claws into a desperate Marothi.
The history between business rivals and frenemies Lehasa (Cedric Fourie) and Marothi (Macks Papo) is a long and turbulent one. The two guys have just never seen eye-to-eye, and that inability to get along has slowly grown into outright hatred over the years. When one does well with a business idea, the other has sour grapes and plans an attack. There is never peace and they’d sooner see each other destroyed than say a kind word. The arson at Lehasa’s Maphosa Nut factory last year has seemingly sent the scheming Lehasa over the edge. “It has been building, the stress, and Lehasa is ready to lash out at anyone,” warns Macks. Unfortunately for Marothi, that happens to be him this fortnight.
NUTS ABOUT REVENGE
Ever since that fateful day the businessman watched his factory burn to the floor, Lehasa has fervently believed – and correctly so – that
Marothi and his wife Ra
chel (Lesego Marakalla) were the ones behind the devastating fire. And despite not having any solid proof, Lehasa has always maintained the arson attack stemmed from pure jealousy on Marothi’s side. “When Lehasa’s old factory still existed in Turf, Marothi was lowkey and threatened by the fact that he wasn’t the only successful businessmen in town,” Cedric explains. “It pushed Marothi, who came with a reputation of being devious, to new lows and nothing is out of the question – including torching a factory possibly with people in it.” So now that Marothi is at his weakest, his enemy is ready to strike like a cobra.
ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK
After months of stewing in frustration and anger, Lehasa decides to make his move. With Rachel still missing – she vanished early in May this year after a nasty fight with Marothi about his cheating – and Marothi distracted and barely coping, Lehasa goes to the cops and unrolls what Cedric describes as a “masterplan. It’s time for revenge, and what better way than to start with Marothi’s company?” Marothi snatched Lehasa’s company from him, so he will
return the favour…
But in order for Lehasa to get his hands on Marothi’s successful printing business, Lehasa has to go digging in the past to find damning evidence.
And what do you know? He might’ve hit the jackpot. Macks and Cedric can’t reveal what this supposed evidence is, but Macks is happy to connect the dots for anyone who’s forgotten about their relentless feuding, backstabbing and shady one-upmanship.
“Lehasa gets a certain confession, one that could possibly implicate his rival Marothi in trying to cover up the truth,” Macks reveals. “Lehasa hopes that he can use this to get Marothi to basically agree to anything, unless of course Marothi wants to go to jail again,” he says, hinting that Marothi being arrested for Rachel’s disappearance is no co-incidence. And don’t forget, this isn’t the first time Marothi has been accused of murdering a wife – offscreen a decade earlier his first marriage ended in flames and whispers in town claim that Marothi sabotaged the brakes that cause the fatal crash. He then was able, while inconsolable, to cash in on his late wife’s insurance policy and set himself up for life.
WATCH HIM SQUIRM
Faced with the prospect of imprisonment, Marothi has no choice but to bow down to Lehasa’s demands. And according to Cedric, Lehasa is enjoying every second of it. “It is the perfect revenge. Not only has Marothi lost out on business and his personal life is in ruins with a missing wife, he has had to submit to his rival,” says the actor. But Cedric also warns that Marothi isn’t the kind of guy to simply throw his hands in the air and accept defeat. “Marothi is shook at first, but he knows he needs to eventually do something about it. Maybe get some new dirt on Lehasa to shut him up. But what? Marothi will fight until he can’t breathe anymore.”
In the meantime, the mystery around
Rachel continues to slink its way around town. No one knows where she is, and the only lead – an SMS from a foreign cellphone number – is sitting on a phone that no one is using. For the next while at least, Marothi is going to be doing
Lehasa’s bidding, like it or not.