Clinging to hope
Zanele realises that she’s mom Faith’s one saving grace.
Zanele (Londeka Mchunu) was in London when news broke that her mom Faith (Winnie Ntshaba) was responsible for the fire at the old Zwide house 20 years ago – the fire in which Zanele’s stepdad Funani’s (Vusi Kunene) first wife was killed. But now she’s home and Zanele is going through a whirlwind of emotions – and it’s only the start of her turmoil.
Zanele has been part of the Zwide family since she was young. Funani and his son Nkosi (Wanda Zuma) are the only father and brother she’s ever known. But both of them have turned their back on Faith since her secret came to light, and Zanele feels caught in between. “Zanele is taking a lot of strain from this whole ordeal, and she turns to Funani’s most trusted right hand Laz (Khaya Dladla) for comfort and refuge. Laz has practically become part of the Zwide family, and while their loyalty is to Funani, Zanele feels that Laz is the only person who will listen to her and understand,” Londeka says.
PICK A SIDE
Even though Zanele would like to keep her stepfather in her life, she can’t turn her back on her mom. Faith will forever be her mom and if Zanele turns her back on her mother, that’s the end for Faith.
“Faith’s relationship with her daughter has never been smooth; she looks at Zanele and sees weakness. As a result, Zanele has always tried to prove herself to her mother – prove that she’s strong and that she’s capable. And remember, Faith is manipulative, she uses her daughter’s desperate desire for her approval to her advantage. Ai Faith is a problem!” Londeka laughs in disbelief of how low Faith is willing to go to save her skin.
KEEPING THE FAITH
And more of Faith’s secrets are about to be revealed as she shares shocking things herself, pushing Zanele further into a corner. “Zanele needs to make a tough choice: Believe her mother and continue protecting and advocating for her, or look at the reality and see Faith for what she is. She has to get over the disbelief, stop being naïve and actually face the truth that her mother is a murderer and a liar,” Londeka says.
With the information Zanele now has in her hands, she’s in a tighter spot with her mom and stepdad, and she’s going to have to take sides soon.
FAMILY OVER EVERYTHING
It might be easy to think Zanele is naïve for even believing that her mother could be innocent, “But for her, it’s deeper than that. She wants to keep her family intact, she wants to restore the unity and harmony that was once there.” But you can’t really restore something that was never there, now can you? “Season 2 is on another level; it’s very emotional and triggering because issues like secrets in families are explored in detail. Prepare to be blown away,” Londeka says, hinting that it’s going to get a whole lot worse for the Zwide family before it gets better. “There are surprises in store for our viewers…”
Reformed gambling addict Agatha (Phumelephi Mthombeni) suffered a relapse when her son Sibusiso (Ntando Mncube) died in a hostage situation in October last year. This tragedy, coupled with the fact that Sibusiso left everything he owned to his sister-in-law Mbali (Nelisiwe Sibiya), caused Agatha to lash out and search for comfort in the best way that she knows: Gambling.
“Agatha has had a tough time lately. Between losing Sibusiso and finding out that Mbali has inherited all of his possessions, she has also had to deal with the fact that she was left out of the planning of Sibusiso’s one-year memorial unveiling, a religious service done to unveil Sibusiso’s tombstone, by her son Thabo (Meshack Mavuso) and Mbali,” says Phumelephi.
DISREGARDED & DISRESPECTED
“She feels that they’ve cast her aside and it hurts,” says the actress. “This for her is the last straw. As Sibusiso’s mom, she has been sidelined during the preparation of her son’s unveiling and she turns to gambling as she feels that it’s the only way for her to de-stress.” But while gambling with her own money is one thing, Agatha has gotten sucked so deep into the world of her addiction that she resorted to taking money from the church stokvel. But they’re about to find out and expose her to their pastor.
“She’s ratted out for doing wrong against the church, stealing their money. While Agatha is stunned at first, she has to realise that what she’s done is now out in the open and she needs to stop the rumours before they get worse,” says Phumelephi. Facing her fears of the backlash from the women, Agatha comes clean about her gambling addiction and stealing the money, hoping that the ladies will forgive her. “They’re furious. Agatha gets the cold shoulder from everyone at the church, and she definitely understands why they are so angry with her. After all, instead of doubling the stokvel money while gambling, like she had hoped, she ended up losing all of the money.”
IN THE FUTURE
And things aren’t going to get much better for Agatha right now. She finds out that she can’t go back to her regular life – she’s an outcast at work and she’s banished from the church, the only other place besides the gambling pit where she sought refuge. “A loanshark is also circling her and she’s going to be in far more trouble than she realises,” laments Phumelephi. “I don’t know how she’s going to get out of this mess…”