Pros & cons
Fikile and Sbu stick their heads in the lion’s mouth to count his teeth.
Sometimes we look at unscrupulous couple Sbu and Fikile (Simphiwe Majozi and Nelisa Mchunu) and we wonder, “Is this what MaNgcobo (Dawn Thandeka King) and Gxab
hashe (Mpumelelo Bhulose) were like when they were young and foolish?” Well, perhaps they will develop the Xulus’ razor-sharp ruthlessness as they gain experience. For now though, they are content to bumble from one money-grabbing scheme to the next – much to our amusement as viewers. “Most of the ideas for crimes that they come up with are Fikile’s ideas. Fikile isn’t satisfied with the salary that she gets at the salon. She wants more. And she ends up making these really dumb decisions,” explains Nelisa. “She puts so much pressure on Sbu that he ends up agreeing to whatever she says because he loves her and he wants to make her happy.” When their plan to snatch Mrs Madlala’s (Ntombifuthi Dlamini) fortune falls through, Fikile and Sbu foolishly turn their attention to a far, far more dangerous target – Club Genesis high roller
Jackson (Mthandeni Mbambo) on Wednesday 16 January. Unlike Mrs Madlala, he’s no little lost lamb; Jackson is more of a lion. And if Sbu and Fikile slip up even once, they’ll feel his teeth sinking into their flesh.
PICKING A MARK
“We know that Jackson has a lot of money because he has flirted with Fikile before at the club. Jackson and Sbu have had a quarrel before because of Fikile, so Sbu is keen on the idea because he also wants to get his own revenge on Jackson,” says Nelisa somewhat gleefully. “They come up with this plan that Fikile is going to flirt with Jackson and lure him in and they can eventually end up at his house so that they can steal all his things.”
HEAD IN HIS MOUTH
It’s a plan that will require Fikile to get dangerously close to Jackson – within kissing distance. “She starts pretending to really care about Jackson and finds out that he and his wife are having issues. She uses that to her advantage to lure Jackson in and she seduces him and she ends up at his house on Thursday 17 January, where she can look around and find the panic button and the code for the alarm. They plan on coming back after a few days and stealing everything! And that includes the contents of Jackson’s secure strong room. So Fikile ends up going to Jackson’s house again for the whole romantic dinner thing on Friday 18 January.” Alone in an unscrupulous man’s house when he definitely wants more than a taste of what’s on the menu? Fikile might look like she is courting disaster but she has a plan: “She spikes Jackson’s drink,” Nelisa reveals. “Once Jackson is out cold. Fikile will be able to let in her partner-in- crime and rob Jackson blind, as intended.”
LOSING THE PLOT
But a strange twist of fate has everything descending into farce on Friday 18 January, forcing Sbu to have to wake the sleeping lion to save Fikile. And with a clean getaway out of the question, Fikile and Sbu will have to work harder over the next few weeks to escape this mess that they’ve landed themselves in than they’d ever have to work for a salary! “It gets really complicated,” admits Nelisa.
CRACKING UP
During 2018, viewers saw Fikile transform from basic salon mean girl to KwaMashu’s funniest con woman – thanks to her absurd couple capers with her beau Sbu. Nelisa reveals, “At first I was a bit nervous because I know Simphiwe is really, really funny, but working with him helped me come out of my shell and made me more comfortable with comedic acting. In terms of comedy, we just go for it. We don’t limit ourselves, we push the boundaries. We get as ridiculous as we possibly can. Even when we are rehearsing lines, we just think of the most ridiculous things that they both could say or do and we just do it! We figure that if we think it’s funny and it makes us laugh, then we’re sure that the audience will find it funny as well. And it’s been going pretty well,” she says merrily.