Bound by love
Marriage after murder: Can widowed Thandi heal a family’s wounds in Isibopho, or is she the next to go?
Isibopho
Season 1 Sundays (from 10 July) Mzansi Wethu (*163) 21:00
Translated in isiZulu, isibopho means obligation, duty or bond – words that represent some of the truths of marriage. This is a concept and a series of do’s and don’ts that many black women have been taught from a very young age: With lessons on how to secure a husband, how to keep him and how to get along with his family. And when it comes to following these unwritten rules, Thandi Ndlovu (Zethu Dlomo, Madi in pirate drama Black Sails) is the makoti of many a family’s dreams.
We meet Thandi, in the pilot episode of Isibopho, as the first person awake in the household preparing breakfast for her husband and in-laws. “When viewers meet Thandi, she is a happy wife, mother and makoti,” says Zethu. “Her days are typical: Cooking, cleaning and helping out sometimes at the family store. All is well in her world until suddenly her life is flipped upside down in a heartbeat…” adds the actress.
Following a family tragedy, Thandi has a new duty to bear: to marry her criminal brother-in-law
S’goloza (Sicelo Dlamini,
Diamond in the telenovela
Isithembiso), a man who doesn’t have the best intentions for her and the people she loves. But cooking, babies, and keeping house isn’t the sum of any woman’s knowledge or potential, and there’s more to Thandi than meets the eye… or than S’goloza could ever suspect from her.
THANDI: GUIDED & GRACIOUS
Before viewers were introduced to Thandi as a mother and wife in the first episode on Sunday 10 July, we followed her through a bad dream in which she and her husband Mazwi (Lerato Makhetha, Ntando Sibeko on soapie
Isidingo) encountered a black cat while on a romantic walk. In the dream Thandi warned him off walking past it, but he continued to walk and disappeared into oblivion. Thandi shouted for him, but all we heard were echoes and screams in the background until she woke up in a panic. Mazwi, who was then still alive and sleeping beside her, woke up and comforted her. Was this dream a premonition of sorts? What is Thandi’s backstory that we don’t understand yet?
“Thandi lost both her parents when she was still a baby and was raised by her aunt and her husband,” explains Zethu. “She had a good upbringing in a warm and happy home, though she always felt the loneliness and gap of losing her parents.” As a result of her loss, Thandi treasures family bonds, which is why she was so trusting of her mother-in-law Onica (Mazwi and S’goloza’s mother, played by the legendary Slindile Nodangala). Dreams will feature significantly in the drama series, so Thandi being protected and guided from the spirit world stands in her favour.
ONICA: PLAYING FAVOURITES
In the beginning, Onica seems to have good intentions for Thandi, greeting her and referring to her as “Umakoti”. But we soon understand that this household is being torn apart by some sort of tension. You don’t have to look too far for the answer. On one side there’s Onica and her son S’goloza, on the other side, both men’s father Jacob (Dr Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha,
Neo on soapie Scandal!, see more on
p30) and younger son Mazwi on the other. Unfortunately S’goloza’s father has always reminded him of his dark past, even when he tries to be better. Jacob even told him in the first episode, “You were born at the wrong place at the wrong time”. And if S’goloza seems shady, that’s a warning as to Onica’s true nature.
S’GOLOZA & MAZWI: BROTHERS DIVIDED
Although S’goloza and Mazwi are brothers, viewers understand from the start of the series that they are polar opposites. S’goloza is the mamma’s boy while Mazwi is his father’s right-hand man – an unusual position for each given their birth order. This divide is emphasised by the fact that Mazwi and S’goloza don’t share the same mother.
We first met S’goloza lurking in an unfinished building, meeting a group of guys for some obviously shady business. “S’goloza is an ex con, he has been to jail for numerous things and has learnt through hardships in jail,” says Sicelo. “He tries to rehabilitate himself and tries to live a clean life when he comes out of jail but that becomes impossible because of family politics and him wanting to be close to his mom. He is forced to go back to his old ways.”
This and Jacob’s love and honour for his “golden boy” Mazwi leaves S’goloza out in the cold, searching for validation and love from his mom Onica. Although he gives off a tough exterior S’goloza’s relationship with his mother Onica and his girlfriend Mumsy (Dineo Lusenge) show us a man who’s capable of a deep love and loyalty.
S’GOLOZA & THANDI: LOSING LOVE
S’goloza will do anything for Mumsy from the moment that she wins in the game of fafi (a lottery of sorts that is a front for something much sinister in the series). We later see him propose to Mumsy albeit in the most nonchalant way. “He’s actually a loving guy, a consistent individual that goes all out for what he believes in,” insists Sicelo. “Marrying Thandi becomes a hard decision for S’goloza because he is very much in love with Mumsy. He truly and genuinely loves her but he’s now caught up in this plan to make sure he gets the inheritance.”
While the story is centred on the theme of losing love for both S’goloza and Thandi, the two might yet find a different kind of love in each other. “Thandi always viewed S’goloza as a criminal, the useless brother-in-law, although she respected him as ubaba omncane to her daughter Amahle. When she is thrown into marriage with him, she sees the other side of him; a vulnerable and sensitive S’goloza,” says Zethu, who emphasises though, that Thandi will never love another man the way that she loved Mazwi.