Putting funny into black-tax money
● It’s been the subject of a thought-provoking book and a stand-up comedy routine.
Now black tax, the term coined to describe the financial helping hand many black middle-class South Africans give to their family, is also the topic of a bright new TV show.
The series, which sees the funny in the money that doesn’t end up in Sars’s coffers, was unveiled on a wet Tuesday evening a couple of hours before it started airing on DStv’s BET Africa channel.
The launch was held on the rooftop of the Bryanston, Joburg, HQ of ViacomCBS, the media corporation under which BET Africa falls.
Heading into the venue I say hello to PR gal Sian Bailey, who is married to one of those 2020 A-listers I announced last week, funnyman Jason Goliath.
Turns out Jason not only plays a supporting role in the sitcom but was also the night’s MC.
In between snacking on morsels ranging from saffron, coriander and lemon-marinated chicken skewers and mini bowls of tandoori-flavoured butternut curry, I catch up with Alex Okosi, who launched the African wing of the massive American media conglomerate 15 years ago.
Earlier that day Alex had announced his exit from the company, which under his watch has grown to entice 100million eyeballs across the continent.
Turns out the dashing Nigeria-born media exec is now turning his attention to one of the world’s biggest online platforms — he’s headed to London to take up the post of YouTube’s MD for emerging markets in Europe, the Middle
East and Africa.
Alex doesn’t stay long, and moments later in walks one of the two execs who have been promoted to fill the void he’s leaving, Monde Twala, who along with Craig Paterson will share the role of GM.
Welcoming Monde on stage, Jason quips that he looks like “a black Harry Potter” on account of his specs, while Monde explains that the decision to commission the sitcom was part of the network’s move to “elevate and celebrate” South African stories.
You’ll want to know about the actual show, and, in between a routine by Celeste Ntuli, whose successful 2017 comedy tour was also called Black Tax, we get to watch the first two episodes of the 13-part series helmed by actress Jo-Anne Reyneke as Thuli Dlamini.
While the show is peppered with topical references (Thuli’s parents move in after her dad loses his pension in the VBS bank collapse), this is a satire-free offering crafted for massmarket appeal.
And it’s worth a look just to see Jason’s stint as Thuli’s gay work colleague, Antonio. “I had to find a calm consistency within my natural performance energy and choose my moments to play with the Mavis,” is how the comedy king explains how he tackled the role.