Ghostly girlfriend
Thandaza and Ranthu’s marriage is about to get a visitor…
Muvhango Weekdays SABC2 (*192) 21:00
Imani (Zonke Mchunu) is alive! She is the mysterious figure who’s been troubling Thandaza (Sindi Dlathu) over the past few weeks. But how is that possible? She’s dead – Imani was buried in January 2016 when her body was discovered in a field after she went missing for a few weeks. In fact, Thandaza’s brother Mfungelwa (Brian Mazibuko) is still in jail for the murder. Turns out it’s been one big blindside and she’s back to “add pressure to the Mokoena marriage,” says Muvhango producer Morishe Matlejoane.
FLASHBACK & “I’M BACK”
Imani was jobless and heartbroken when she moved to Joburg to live with her blood-aunt Thandaza towards the end of 2015. Unable to give her hubby Ranthu another kid, Thandaza came up with the idea that Imani could be their surrogate, but she wasn’t expecting Ranthu to propose to her niece in Dec-ember 2015. And when Imani disappe-ared in January and her corpse was found, Thandaza was the prime sus-pect until Mfungelwa was arrested.
Imani comes out of the shadows on Thursday 8 June and Thandaza doesn’t know what to say. She hasn’t seen a ghost – her niece is alive and this is going to cause drama when Ranthumeng finds out. Morishe adds that the character wasn’t just brought back to life for a specific storyline, saying that “we also wanted to have more darker-skinned women in our [Vendabased] show. Imani and Bongi [Nqobile Ndlovu] are strategic to denouncing the yellowbone [light-skin] misconception”.
FILLING IN THE GAPS
Working such a strong character back into the story was a long process, not to forget tricky since Imani is literally dead and buried. “We looked at all of the loopholes in the Imani-RanthuThandaza storyline and realised that there was never definitive confirmation of Imani’s death,” says Morishe. “Ranthu was a broken man and in so much shock that when they asked him to identify the body, he didn’t take a really good look and didn’t notice that the girl wasn’t Imani.”
MOVING FORWARD
So where to now for Thandaza and Ranthu, who were set to renew their vows in May? “Imani’s return will be met with mixed emotions,” Morishe predicts. “She’s a strong character and will evolve into something even bigger. There’s drama, shake-ups, turbulence and the lesson that love perseveres.”