For the past month, The Queen has kept us reaching for the Kleenex; Mpho walking in on Schumacher in bed with some random guy, Vuyiswa getting raped, several women reporting rape charges and Schumacher getting beaten black and blue by Thando’s thugs.
The sixteen days of activism against violence on women and children have come to an end, and fittingly, Vuyiswa has finally found justice for victims of rape.
Schumacher chooses poverty of riches
When Schumacher targeted Mpho Sebata for a girlfriend, it was not for her good looks or her Sibahle collarbone tattoo and it was definitely not because of her short-shorts. Granted, Mpho — real name Ntando Duma — is sexy in her trademark bum shorts. But Schumacher the career Ben 10 chose her because of the good life that she can offer him. She is the goose that lays the golden egg, if not a gold mine. You would expect that Schumacher would treat her as such. At least until the marriage certificate is signed.
But Schumacher couldn’t control his urges. He carried on with Sipho, something he picked up from the Corner House, and I don’t mean takeaway chips. After the green eyed Thatho snitched to Thando about Schumacher’s side dude, Mpho did not believe her older sister. And then she walked into the thick odour of sex inside Schumacher’s bedroom. See, this is the trouble with being poor. When people walk into your home, they land inside your bedroom. If Schumacher had been richer, Mpho would have first arrived in a vestibule, then maybe a lounge area or a long hallway from which several bedroom doors branch off. Perhaps a manservant might have blocked Mpho from proceding to the bedroom where horror awaited her. But Schumacher is poor and trying to climb up in life, on Mpho’s tattooed shoulders. So you would expect him to be discrete, “at least until after the wedding as fellow gold digger Siyanda advised him.
When Mpho caught Schumacher naked with another man, she walked. End of relationship. Big sister Thando who hates Schumacher was delirious with joy. Finally Schumacher would be out of their lives. But wait – did Thando really think a gold digger would give up his meal ticket without a fight?
Schumacher bounces back
Even though Mpho had broken off the engagement, hang on, is this a divorce? Because Schumacher had already paid lobola. Wait again, Schumacher didn’t pay anything. He used Mpho’s money to pay R25,000 lobola so strictly speaking Mpho paid her own lobola. I digress. Even though Mpho had ended her relationship with Schumacher, she still loved him. How do I know this? Well it’s something to do with her sniffing Schumacher’s clothes. If her nostrils were any good, she would have smelt Schumacher’s boyfriend all over the clothes.
Determined to get the good life, Schumacher hadn’t given up on Mpho. She made it easy. After tricking her into meeting her, Schumacher begged for forgiveness. And Mpho, the sniffer of sweaty clothes, accepted.
The wedding is back on. Hopefully Phathu and Gwydion will not ruin this wedding.
Vuyiswa adds two and two
The business of catching criminals is not very different from putting together scattered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; a tooth belongs on the face, a shoe goes lower down the frame. Speaking of shoes, this turned out to be the most crucial part of solving the serial rapist case. But hang on a moment.
Vuyiswa interviewed and re-interviewed numerous rape victims. A pattern emerged. At the conclusion of each rape, the rapist had said “nice doing business with you.”
Now onto footwear. Fragments of the ordeal came back to Vuyiswa. She recalled the boot which blocked the door from closing as she tried to escape her assailant. It occurred to her that this was a police issue boot. Convinced that the perpetrator was most likely a cop, she shared this bit of information with Sebata, and the Colonel who had given the rape case to Derrick – real name Sisa Hewana – on account of Vuyiswa taking the case too personally, was sceptical. Anyone could have the same shoes, either a security guard or relative of a policeman.
Vuyiswa solves the mystery
A further clue fell onto Vuyiswa’s lap. Nephew Thato came home in a green jacket triggering a flashback to the night when she was drugged and raped. Vuyiswa tracked down the designer of the jacket who happened to have a database of all his clients. She and Georgina pored through the long list trying to narrow down the suspects. Frustrated with the hunt for a needle in a haystack, Vuyiswa stepped out for some fresh air. In the car park she found Derrick, lead investigator on the serial rapist case. While they made small talk, Derrick’s phone rang. Something he said while speaking into the phone sounded eerily familiar. As the cogs turned inside her head, Vuyiswa glanced back to the rear seat. Puzzle pieces sometimes fall in place without human intervention; there on the seat was the same green jacket Vuyiswa recalled on her attacker. She had solved the case. But Derrick knew he had been made. He drew his gun and drove away with Vuyiswa, leaving a puzzled Georgina in the car park.
Vuyiswa is abducted
As Vuyiswa and her abductor drove to a desolate place, Georgina pondered the facts. There on the list of people who had purchased a green jacket was Derrick. It clicked! Backed up by Hector and officer Mbele, Georgina followed Derrick’s car whose tracker had betrayed his woodland hideout.
Meanwhile in the woods, Derrick ordered Vuyiswa to strip naked, intending to rape her all over again. Instead of undressing, Vuyiswa bolted out the door. Some meters away, she fell as Derrick fired his pistol.
More gunshots rang out. Tembisa police were on the scene and Derrick was wounded in the shootout. But despite his injury, Derrick got away.
In the dirt, the prostrate Vuyiswa stirred back to life; dankie bulletproof vest! Back at the police station, the investigating team tracked Derrick to a shack, following a tipoff from a civilian. But inside the shack Georgina triggered a booby trap and the shed exploded into a ball of fire. Timber, zinc sheeting and cops flew everywhere, thank goodness there were no casualties.
Predator becomes the prey
Hector, Officer Mbele and Georgina returned to base, only to realize that Vuyiswa was missing. She had stayed behind, clinging to a hunch that criminals always return to the scene of the crime. Her hunch was vindicated. As Derrick savoured the destruction, Vuyiswa crept behind him and struck him in the back of the head with a piece of timber. As he sat up, she pulled out her pistol. With Vuyiswa on the brink of shooting the man who raped her, Hector and Georgina arrived on the scene to avert a revenge killing.
Ntando Duma criticism
I must admit that I make a poor critic in this instance. Mpho Sebata (real name Ntando Duma) is cast as the sweet and naive daughter of Hector (real name Rapulana Seiphemo). As the only saint in a household of murderous drug dealers, she easily endeared herself to me. The combination of Mpho’s naivety and Schumacher’s deviousness makes for gripping drama. But the less sentimental viewers have had it up to here with Ntando Duma’s acting.
https://twitter.com/macobadc/status/1336032825934557190?s=21
Noo I'm not happy with Ntando Duma's acting. #TheQueenMzansi pic.twitter.com/yRiei4CwPS
— Kat✨ (@katTshabalala1) December 7, 2020
Ntando Duma is a great Mom, she should rather focus on that because wow #TheQueenMzansi pic.twitter.com/mrZeY6QTRY
— Sis wamaPositive Vibes (@SilindileTjale) December 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/gandu_z/status/1336377668334465027?s=21
I guess it is true what they say; you can’t please everyone.
Till next week, my pen is capped
Jerà
The Queen airs weekdays at 9:00pm on Mzansi Magic and is available on Showmax