Is Sbonga cheating on Pretty with Zanele?

Pretty Molefe and her baby daddy, Sbonga (real name Khaya Mthembu) have a fifteen year old daughter, Tshiamo (real name Lerato Mokoka). In their sixteen years of vat and sit, marriage hasn’t come up — at least not that I’ve heard. If Sbonga hasn’t put a ring on it, then it is possible — in the mind of his baby mama, Pretty — that she hasn’t really secured him as her own. He could therefore leave at any moment. Sixteen years of sharing Pretty’s single bed, without even a plastic toy ring on her finger, it is no wonder Pretty has grown increasingly insecure.

Mam Sonto hides the truth

When her family visited her in hospital, Mam Sonto stuck to her robbery story even though it was Thathi who shot her. Sonto and Thathi are in a precarious place where the downfall of one would result in the demise of the other; mutually assured destruction. If Sonto exposes Thathi as her shooter, the most obvious question that would follow is why Thathi would shoot her own mother. And such an inquiry would naturally lead to the revelation of Mam Sonto’s accountability for Mbongeni’s death. But despite covering for Thathi, Mam Sonto remained hostile, if not ice cold towards her eldest daughter.

It took lots of groveling and a tea tray for Thathi to finally earn Mam Sonto’s forgiveness. But Sonto also accepted responsibility for causing undue pain to Thathi. Mother and daughter are back to being friends. However, having been given a second chance in life, Sonto declared herself officially out of the car theft business. We’ll see how long that resolution lasts.

Gladys goes home

After her Aunt Tono died, Gladys was left reeling, not from grief but the unanswered question of her maternity which echoed in her head. Just before Tono took her final breath, she told Gladys that the woman who had raised her wasn’t her biological mother.

Gladys became angry and lashed out her family for the smallest things. To make matters worse, Aunt Tono was in debt — R50,000 — for a loan she took from a mashonisa. The loan shark kept calling Gladys and demanding that she settle her aunt’s debt. On the second phone call from the mashonisa, Melusi snatched the phone from Gladys and spoke firmly with the man. They made arrangements to meet at Bongani’s shisanyama.

When Teddy and Ntokozo heard that Melusi had gone “without backup” to meet a dangerous loan shark, they followed him to the meeting place. But rather than finding a scary man, the boys saw the mashonisa with tail between his legs as he quickly departed.

I sense that there is a dangerous side to Melusi. Remember how he pulled a gun on Mazet after she had taken in Ntokozo to live with her. Sometimes I get the sense that Melusi has superpowers; when he has to, he changes into his old character Diamond Mabuza.

Back to Gladys.

Road trip for the Dlaminis

Aunt Tono left specific instructions in her will for her mortal remains to be incinerated and the ashes scattered in the village where she grew up. Even though Gladys had wanted to make the trip home on her own, Melusi put his foot down and told her it was a family trip.

Zodwa thought she was helping when she offered to put Tono’s ashes in the car. But Gladys took hold of the box of ashes and told her to leave it alone. Zodwa refused to let go. A tug of war ensued. It ended in a black shower of ashes which descended onto the kitchen floor. And then Gladys feared that Tono would haunt her for desecrating her remains. Neither woman would sweep up Tono from the floor, until Melusi the peacekeeper grabbed the broom and swept the ashes back into the box.

The hunt for parents

When the Dlaminis returned from the village, the search for Gladys’ parents continued. After many dead ends, finally Gladys found her father’s phone number. She has not spoken to the man since he abandoned her as a child. And now he was keen to see her. Just like Gladys, I’m just curiouser and curiouser.

Pretty fears Mazet threat

The first sign of trouble was Sbonga and Mazet playing video games together like they went to high school together. Pretty (whose real name is Siyasanga Papu) yelled at Sbonga for being childish but everyone knows she was concerned about him spending time with the much younger and much hotter Zanele. Sorry, did I just say that out loud?

After Mam Sonto was discharged from hospital, Pretty and Thathi arranged a welcome home party. Sonto was in no mood for festivities, she went straight to her room. But the balloons were already up on the wall so, Sonto or no Sonto, someone had to make a party of her return from hospital. Mazet and Sbonga opened the dance floor and bumped backsides together like that 1970s dance, which aroused insecurity in Pretty.

Sbonga and Mazet go out

But if Pretty was mildly suspicious of Sbonga  and Zanele, her insecurity deepened when her man went to watch a soccer match with another woman. Sbonga and Zanele came home drunk and singing off key with both of them painted in their team colours, she in Chiefs regalia and he in Pirates attire.

When Pretty tried to call them to order — something you really should never do with drunk people — they laughed in her face.

Pretty finds evidence of cheating

The video games and soccer match was just the beginning. When a customer at Sonto’s tavern harassed Mazet, Sbonga defended his new friend. Hedidn’t seem to be just a knight in shining armour rescuing a damsel in distress. There was something possessive about him, like the tavern lout had stepped on Sbonga’s territory, all the while Pretty was watching.

As Sbonga and Zanele became tighter, Pretty was going mad with jealousy and mistrust. Finally she did what every mistrusting woman did: she went through Sbonga’s phone. She did not like what she found. A text message from Zanele in which she said “I want to ride you”

Pretty is a feisty girl and wasted no time in confronting Mazet. But Zanele laughed everything off and told her it was a message from some guy who fancied her. Mazet had only forwarded the text message, unedited, to Sbonga after they had talked about this man’s weak pick up lines.

After hearing this explanation, Pretty calmed down and decided to leave the Sbonga-Zanele friendship alone. But that was before she heard Sbonga and Zanele’s voices coming from behind Mam Sonto’s locked office door. She pounded on the door for attention, but neither Sbonga nor Zanele opened it. When a tavern waiter finally unlocked the door, Pretty, now backed up by Thathi, charged into the office where Sbonga and Zanele sat shoulder to shoulder on the floor with ear phones on.

The confrontation nearly turned nasty with Pretty wanting to get her hands on Mazet. Sbonga of course pleaded innocence. The door was stuck and he hadn’t intended to be locked up with Zanele.

Whether door stuck or door locked, I for one am rooting for Sbonga to hook up with Mazet. I think Sbonga puts up with a lot of disrespect from the Molefe women, most notably Mam Sonto and Thathi. Being broke does not take away Sbonga’s need for respect as a man. In fact, even the scriptwriters haven’t bothered to give Sbonga a last name. Such disrespect!

Till next week, my pen is capped

Gomora airs weekdays at 7:30pm on Mzansi Magic and is also available on Showmax and DSTV catch-up.

 

Images from Twitter, videos from YouTube 

 

Connect with the writer on Twitter @RewindMzansi 

 

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