Thando holds Shaka hostage

Shaka learns Thando’s secret [The Queen]

by

Harriet’s instincts are never wrong, and Shaka should have listened when she said it was “too soon” to talk marriage with Thando, a woman he had only known for a month. But everyone knows that a man in love cannot be reasoned with. Harriet’s warning turned out to be prophetic. As soon as Shaka put a ring on Thando’s finger, things went horribly wrong.

When father and son work together

It’s hard to believe that Thato almost killed Jackal with his bare hands only a few weeks ago. Now, father and son have kissed and made up. They didn’t exactly kiss, that would be incest.

Business came to a standstill at the corner house with customers avoiding the scene of a bloody beat down. Jackal came up with an idea to increase traffic at the Corner House – a beauty pageant. Thato was sceptical at first, until Jackal swayed his opinion.

The Miss Corner House pageant almost died in its embryonic stage when the wily Jackal advertised the prize of a motor car, a promise which neither he nor Thato could honour, even if they wanted to. Cars don’t grow on trees like avocados! Just when Thato and Jackal had resolved their differences, they were back to quarrelling over the old man’s fake car prize.

A lesson in inheritance law

After Jackal pledged to give a car to the winner of Miss Corner House, father and son tried desperately to find sponsorship. When everything failed, Jackal whispered divisive words into Thato’s ear; “ask Vuyiswa to give you some of Jerry Maake’s life insurance money.”

Vuyiswa was not having it. Which is expected. The insurance money is the last thread that connects her to her late husband. Urged on by Jackal, Thato put it to Vuyiswa that he was entitled to a piece of his uncle’s money.  Vuyiswa is a cop, she wouldn’t have gotten where she is without knowing the law; my inheritance, my house, phumani! She asked Jackal and Thato to leave. But thankfully a family feud was averted when a corporate sugar daddy appeared unexpectedly.

A used car dealership looking for publicity offered to put up the prize of a car to the winner. That was one problem solved. But problems are like cockroaches. Once you squish one, another appears in its place. Thato’s liquor license had expired. No liquor license, no booze at the pageant. Nobody would line up to a beauty pageant where only orange juice was on the beverages menu.

Two queens in one hive

Thato and Jackal were out of their depth as the shortlisting of the Miss Corner House contestants began. Men being men, they chose women based solely on looks. Vuyiswa, overhearing their conversation about “yellow bones” suggested that a beauty pageant should be about both physical beauty and intellect. This was all it took for Thato and Jackal to co-opt Vuyiswa into the organising committee. But someone else had their eyes set on a position on the committee.

When Patronella discovered that Mjekejeke was involved in organising Miss Corner House, she saw her opportunity:

“Make me a judge!”

When Mjekejeke refused, Patronella sought um, er, how do I put it – herbal intervention. She spiked Mjekejeke’s drink with a love position. For the unsuspecting Mjekejeke, things quickly got… hard. Very hard. As Mjakes sought an outlet for the rising emotions, Patronella denied her husband any conjugal relief. “Unless you make me Miss Corner House judge.” Mjekejeke agreed. Finally Patronella attended to his needs.

But Vuyiswa and Sis’ Pat constantly clashed, like two queen bees who find themselves confined to one hive. Their most notable disagreement was when Patronella squeezed Mpho Sebata into the contest long after the selection process was complete. Despite their objection to Mpho’s inclusion, the organising team would later be grateful for Patronella’s meddling.

Without a license to keep the Corner House customers plied with liquor, the pageant was as good as dead. The license application process takes weeks – unless you know a few low people in high places. Mpho knows such a person. Using his connections, Hector Sebata had the liquor license renewed. Despite his dodgy drug business, he is still a softy when it comes to his daughters.

A rigged election

It was a full house when the beauty pageant kicked off. The Miss Corner House aspirants paraded on the catwalk before showcasing their unique talents. Mpho Sebata danced, but a frog strapped to an electric chair would have displayed far more rhythm than Miss Sebata. After the judges tallied up the score, Thato took to the microphone to announce the winner. He opened the envelope and saw one name. But he announced another.

“The winner is Mpho Sebata!”

Facepalm. Democracy is a pipe dream in Africa.

Shaka misses his engagement party

After weeks of chasing their tail, the Khozas finally had a strong lead on the identity of the new drug supplier. Using information acquired from Skhumbuzo’s hacked phone, Shaka followed the flashy suited Dollar to a location where he dropped off a bag of cash intended for his mysterious supplier. After Dollar made the drop off, Shaka concealed a tracking devise inside the bag containing the supplier’s money.

Shaka’s mistake was in making this a one-man mission. After a messenger picked up the cash, Shaka followed him to a warehouse. Rather than call for backup, Shaka went in alone. Hector’s thugs grabbed him before covering his face with a bag and tying him to a chair. Later, Sebata would unveil the intruder and drop his jaw.  In fact, the look of shock was mutual.

Sebata was at a loss for ideas and left Shaka in the care of his thugs to attend Thando’s engagement party at the Khozas. There, the corrupt cop would express disappointment at Shaka standing up his bride to be.

Thando and Shaka learn the truth

After playing the disappointed father in law, Hector went back to his warehouse to further interrogate Shaka. Thando was still at home crying over the boy who stood her up. It was during the interrogation that Shaka learned that he shot Thando. Sebata continued to hold Shaka while the Khozas frantically looked for him. Using a contact at the cellphone company, Kagiso pinpointed the last position from where Shaka used his phone. The Khozas suited and booted in their combat gear in no time before descending on the warehouse.

Meantime, Thando arrived at the warehouse to find Shaka seated in a chair with his arms and ankles bound. One of Sebata’s thugs had a pistol ready with a silencer on the muzzle. He had been issued with the order to kill Shaka. And Shaka thought he would finally be rescued. But Thando went to confront her father, only to find out that it was her beloved Shaka who had shot her during the drug exchange with Noma. Apart from the anger of having been stood up at her engagement party, Thando now had further cause to be furious. Talk about a Mr and Mrs Smith scenario.

She stood with pistol ready to shoot Shaka when suddenly gunfire broke out in the warehouse. The Khozas had come to Shaka’s rescue.

A flawed story

The arrival of the Sebatas has brought further drama to The Queen.  But a flashing neon sign in the shape of a huge question mark always hung above the Thando Sebata shooting incident. Shaka had seen Thando naked many times. He knew her gait, he even knew the colour, make and model of her car. So it makes no sense that he accidentally shot her, a fact which Thando raised during interrogation. The scriptwriters got it wrong here. If their intention was to create an accidental shooting, perhaps they should have had Thando attend the meeting in disguise.

Also, when Shaka went missing, Harriet said they didn’t have a private investigator. Hello, didn’t Shaka seduce the Khoza’s PI just two months ago? Surely the scriptwriters remember her!

On the positives, it was pleasing to see the producers of the show using their vast following to educate people on inheritance law, just as they have done with other important social issues.

Till next week, my pen is capped

Jerà

Images from Twitter

The Queen airs weekdays on Mzansi Magic at 9:00pm

 

 

 

Leave a Comment