Blended family at the Khoza mansion

Greetings, loyal fans of The Queen Mzansi, it has been a long minute since the last recap o what’s happening at Mzansi Magic’s finest home, The Khoza mansion. It has been an explosive couple of weeks on The Queen with so much happening in Waterfall and Tembisa.

Harriet dodges bullet

It was supposed to be a routine annual check-up at the doctor’s. But Harriet was left in a state of panic after the doctor told her he had found a lump in one breast. Thinking that her time was running out, Harriet sought comfort in a friendship she had long cancelled, Hector Sebata. It was in the middle of the night when Harriet called. Asleep, next to him, was his wife Vuyiswa, blissfully ignorant of the treachery that was on the horizon. Hector got dressed and excused himself, making up a story about his sister Dorothy being in trouble. But as soon as he was out the door he drove straight to Harriet, in the middle of the night. At the Khoza mansion, he expected that Harriet would hide him from view of the guards. But she opened the gate and let him in.

We seem to have come full circle; Harriet and Hector sat on the very same spot where they exchanged sob stories and reached a truce on the morning of the Sebata-Khoza gun battle. Harriet told Hector how much she feared that the lump in her chest might be cancer. At sunrise, Hector rang Harriet’s doctor and made an appointment for her to get tested for cancer. Later, Hector sat next to Harriet, holding her hand, something he never did for Vuyiswa when she went in for fertility tests.

Meanwhile in the Sebata home, Vuyiswa created an opportunity for Harriet. She announced her departure for the Eastern Cape, to see her people. With Vuyiswa away, Hector and Harriet saw a lot more of each other.

Hector and Harriet caught with pants down

They say when you receive good news, the person you first tell is most likely the one closest to your heart. Harriet, fearing the worst, had already told Brutus that she was dying of cancer. When the Doctor called but wouldn’t disclose her test results on the phone, it was all she needed to confirm what she already sensed. When Harriet finally gathered the courage to get to the Doctor’s office, he gave her a clean bill of health. The lump in her breast was not cancer. What’s that thing they say about the first person you want to share good news with?

Back at the Sebata house, Thando playing Cupid, had tricked Vuyiswa into coming back home early by using Hector’s phone to SMS her stepmom. Vuyiswa arrived home and Thando immediately whisked her off to Tembisa police station, Hector’s workplace. The well-meaning daughter had planned a romantic getaway for Hector and Vuyiswa. Meanwhile, Harriet did what all people do when they have good news to share. She drove to Tembisa police station and went into Hector’s office. She told him she wanted him in her life and Hector reciprocated. They kissed. And that’s when Vuyiswa and Thando walked in.

“Papa, what the hell is going on!” Thando said, as if what was going on needed translation.

Startled, Hector’s lips stretched and snapped against his face as he pulled away from Harriet’s mouth. Harriet made a speedy getaway to her car. Vuyiswa followed her yelling out the standard script of all women who have caught their husband’s mistress, much to the amusement of her workmates.

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This means war!

The next few days in the Sebata house were as tense as expected. It did not take long for the D word to come up. With the two agreeing to a divorce, Hector was free to be with Harriet and Vuyiswa, rejecting Hector’s offer to let her keep the house, moved back to the home that she foolishly given to Patronella and Mjekejeke. Vuyiswa may have walked away from her unfaithful husband, but she had definitely not closed the chapter on Hector. She made it her mission to bring him down.

If Vuyiswa was going to bring down Hector, she was going to need her badge and gun. Threatening to tell the police top brass about Hector dating a drug dealer, Vuyiswa successfully blackmailed her husband into lifting her suspension from work.

Vuyiswa tracked down the surviving mercenary from the Khoza-Sebata shootout. She tied him up before subjecting him to violent interrogation. Hector found her beating up the mercenary, he pulled rank and demanded that Vuyiswa conduct her investigation at the police station. But once the suspect was in police custody, Hector killed him by poisoning his food.

 

 

Get out of my house

Vuyiswa confronted Harriet at the Khoza mansion, with pistol drawn. When Brutus tried to intervene, Vuyiswa said what she knew would shock him.

“Your sister-in-law has been sleeping with my husband”

Brutus old rage was reignited. Remember the time he shot Sebata in the shoulder after catching him kissing Harriet in the living room. This time he went upstairs and came charging back with a sjambok in hand, intending to whip Harriet. Noma protectively stood between the sjambok and Harriet. Later on, Brutus kicked down Harriet’s bedroom door, proving the flimsiness of doors on television. And, like a rebellious teen, Brutus deliberately went out of his way to make Harriet’s life miserable. He invited strange people over and threw loud parties, all to annoy his sister-in-law. And then Brutus decided that it wasn’t enough to just target Harriet. He went to Tembisa Police, with gun on his trouser belt, as if he didn’t see the POLICE sign at the gate. He took out his gun and threatened Hector’s life. But if Brutus had missed the POLICE sign, he was soon reminded that he was inside a police station. Four uniformed cops drew their weapons before arresting him.

When Brutus eventually got out on bail, he persisted with his antics. Finally Harriet couldn’t take it any longer. She told him to leave. Brutus did not take her seriously and left to go somewhere. When he came back, he found his suitcases at the gate. The electric gate no longer responded to his remote and much to Brutus’ horror, the guards spoke to him in Setswana! As Brutus screamed to be let in, Harriet and Hector, now housemates, appeared in the driveway. They waved smugly at the fuming but defeated looking Brutus. Feeling unwanted, he left for KZN where we meet his four sons for the very first time.

Although this new facet to the show offered viewers something new, I felt that the scriptwriters were not only lazy but also disrespectful to fans of The Queen Mzansi. Brutus’s senior (and as far as I know) sole wife, Makhumalo (real name Deli Malinga) along with the six preteen kids we once saw in Joburg, were nowhere to be seen. There was no attempt to explain why we now suddenly had MaJali (real name Nomsa Buthelezi) as the wife and how the six “legitimate” children became four. It is a known fact that Brutus has sired children with many mistresses but as far as I  am aware – believe me I have been paying attention – MaKhumalo is the only wife. More on the KZN family in the next instalment.

Blended family in the Khoza mansion

Thando was so desperate to separate her father from Harriet. She thought that with Harriet out of the picture. Things would go back to the way they were; Hector, Vuyiswa, Thando, Khumo – well, before Brutus killed him. Such was Thando’s hatred that she tried not once but twice to kill Harriet.

Harriet received a bottle of whiskey with what looked like Hector’s love letter attached. Days after the whiskey arrived, Hector moved into the Khoza mansion. The two lovers sat down to share a drink. Harriet poured them a glass each from the mysterious whiskey. Harriet was first to sip her whiskey while Hector was distracted by his phone. When Hector turned back to Harriet, she was flat on the ground and in evident distress. After being rushed to the hospital, Harriet discovered that she had been poisoned.

When Hector inspected the whiskey note, he immediately recognized Thando’s handwriting. But he pinned the attack on Brutus. Harriet had put the poisoning attempt behind her when a new menace appeared. A hitman hired by Thando attacked Harriet with a knife. But Because Harriet is The Queen, she turned the tables on her attacker and stabbed him with his own knife.

Alive but in pain, the would-be killer confessed that he had been hired by Thando. Hector heard the confession with his own ears. He nailed a “for sale” sign at the gate to his house, leaving Thando homeless and officially cut off by her own father. Homeless and fatherless, Thando made up her mind to leave Jozi for the UK.

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While Hector opted for financial ostracization, Harriet chose love as a weapon. She found Thando eating alone at Noma’s restaurant. Thando expected rage. But Harriet sat down and spoke in the calmest of voices. She told Thando that she fully understood why she had tried to kill her. She invited Thando to stay briefly at the Khoza mansion during which time she could try to repair her relationship with her father. Initially Thando refused but soon changed her mind. We have a blended family in the Khoza mansion; Harriet, Hector, Olerato and Thando.

Till next week, my pen is capped

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