When war is imminent

When brothers are at war

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War is always inevitable when peace treaties are signed with pen in hand and knives under the table. When Harriet found out that Kagiso had almost killed his brother Shaka, she demanded to know one thing:

“Since when do we kill each other? Our enemies are out there, not in here!”

But, as profound as her speech is, I wonder; is there any substance to Harriet’s words?

Where is Kagiso?

Out of fear of being caught unprepared, Kagiso resorted to drinking copious quantities of energy drink in order to remain awake. “The last time I fell asleep, I woke up in a cemetery,” said Sgaqagaqa. As the sleep deprivation grew worse, Kagiso nodded off and was shaken awake from a nightmare by Harriet. In the scary dream, Kagiso was trapped alive inside a coffin. You don’t need to be Einstein to figure out the meaning. Fearing for his life, Kagiso vacated the Khoza mansion and disappeared, leaving no trace at all. This led Harriet to suspect that Shaka had killed her son, after all, there are filial grudges and counter grudges. But Shaka, who had briefly disappeared at the same time as Kagiso, explained his absence with a trip to Limpopo where he spied on his estranged wife and kids. Stalker much?

Dingane threatens suicide

Ever since he came out of prison, in October last year, Dingane has wanted nothing but the approval of the father who abandoned him in his childhood. When he finally reconnected with his father, Dingane found that Brutus already had a son in Shaka. From this was born the rivalry that mimicked the death of King Shaka at the hands of his brothers Dingane and Mhlangana.

After being abducted and tortured by Shaka and then being disowned by his father, Dingane confronted Brutus and offered him a rope. Kill me, he said. But Brutus gave a counter offer – go and kill yourself. As Harriet pleaded with Brutus to make up with his son, Dingane gathered his belongings and drove away.

Welcome Vivian

Harriet, concerned for Kagiso, enlisted the services of a private investigator, a curvaceous bombshell called Vivian (played by model and actress, Thabisile, Zikhali).

 

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As the Khozas wondered about Kagiso’s location, Dingane’s vehicle was discovered with blood smeared on the fender and its doors wide open, like someone had left the scene injured and in a great hurry. Brutus, who had previously told Dingane to go and kill himself wept for the son he had disowned. The death of his other son, Bhekumuzi, must have haunted him when he saw blood on Dingane’s vehicle.

Harriet and Brutus finally agreed to end the war between Shaka, Dingane and Kagiso and re-establish peace in the family. Once the private investigator found Kagiso and Dingane, Brutus and Harriet kept Shaka in the dark, out of fear that war might break out. But Shaka seduced Vivian and somehow extracted the location of the secret hideout. As Harriet and Brutus prepared for a rescue mission, Shaka geared up for war.

Vivian goes to war for Kagiso?

During their self imposed exile, Dingane unwillingly accepted his role as passive observer as Kagiso, who has military experience, quietly plotted Shaka’s downfall without giving much away to his cousin. Vivian summoned Harriet and Brutus to a desolate forest where she seemed to have hoped for Shaka to join them.

But in an unexpected plot twist, Vivian led Brutus and Harriet to the wrong location while she rushed to a different building to join Kagiso. Surprise, surprise, Vivian was working with Kagiso. All is fair in love and war, right?

Once inside the safe house, she pulled out her pistol and took up a position at one of the windows, awaiting Shaka’s arrival. Moments later, Shaka arrived, with a handful of hired guns. As Harriet and Brutus figured out Vivian’s trickery, the sound of war rang out in the forest.

A mother and daughter’s war

For a week, Thato was a legend or the poster boy for “men are trash” – depending on your point of view – as he slept with mum (Mildred) and daughter (Warona) concurrently. Schumacher and the unwilling Mjekejeke were enlisted to run interference while he was entertaining one of his unsuspecting lovers. But it was at a fundraiser held at the Corner House – ironically an event to raise money for the war against abuse of women – where Thato was found out. Imagine that, emotionally abusing two women at a fundraiser to end the abuse of women. Believing that Schumacher was entertaining Warona, Thato stole a moment with Mildred. And, as Murphy’s law dictates, this was his moment of discovery.

Warona did not immediately make a scene. Typically, when two women discover they are sharing one man, a war of nails and handbags breaks out. But, surprisingly, mother and daughter took a different option in dealing with their two-timer.

The following day she and Midlred confronted the cheating Thato. Milly, who had served up nights of warmth to Thato, gave him a hot slap to the cheek and Warona gave a heartbroken goodbye.

“I thought we had something special.”

Thato seems to have lost a good one here.

The cycle of betrayal

“Since when do we kill each other?” said Harriet to Kagiso.

https://twitter.com/jerazw/status/1230568866595500032?s=20

Anyone with a functioning memory must have laughed at that. In episode one, Harriet killed her husband. Later Brutus and Shaka tortured her. Kagiso disowned her when he suspected she killed his father. He moved in with Goodness, the woman he stole from Shaka. And yes, remember Shaka trying to shoot both Kagiso and Goodness during their swimming pool romp? Shaka blew up Harriet’s car and, in the process, blinded Kagiso. Harriet assembled a sniper rifle, with intent to kill Brutus and Shaka.  She would have succeeded, were it not for Kea’s intervention. Kagiso grabbed his mother by the throat and squeezed, for five, ten seconds, after she killed Kamina.

Since when do we kill each other? Since when do we not!

Is this the Shaka viewers expected?

 

When SK Khoza left The Queen seven months ago, his fans petitioned the reinstatement of his character, Shaka. It took a long time but finally the viewers got their wish. However, the Shaka they got isn’t really what they expected.

Speaking on her twitter account, executive producer, Connie Ferguson seemed to hint that the viewers would eventually get their old show back.

Already some viewers are threatening to boycott. But, despite these threats, viewership numbers remain high.

 

Till next week, my pen is capped.

 

Jerà

The Queen airs weekdays on Mzansi Magic

 

Images from Twitter

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