When the winner comes second

The Gomora Secondary School debate was the main attraction this week as the judges panel sought to pick one winner. The top prize was of course the debating club captaincy. Langa routinely scores top marks in class so he was the natural choice for captain, right?

Thathi turns snitch

Thathi finally got the better of Mohato, street name My Lord, when she ruined his business (by forcing him to give unrealistically high discounts) and set him up for arrest. Thathi and Mazet had uncorked a bottle of champagne when Mohato suddenly appeared – no handcuffs, no leg irons –  proving the levels of corruption in law enforcement. Naturally, Mohato knew who had set him up, so he tied up Thathi and shoved her head through a car tyre as though he intended to necklace her – standard punishment for sellouts during the liberation struggle. But Thathi remained defiant.

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Eventually she talked her way out of Mohato’s clutches by offering a partnership. Because she knows where to find all the top of the range vehicles in Sandton, Mohato took the bait; stalemate. But despite the fifty-fifty arrangement, there was to be only one winner. Thathi secretly rang Mohato’s parole officer, pretending to be a relative. She accidentally on purpose mentioned Mohato’s recent arrest. This resulted in Mohato being subjected to scrutiny by the parole officer. In order to avoid being re-arrested, he must now find a legitimate job. Even though Thathi still has control of the car theft ring, there is no clear winner yet in their fight for power.

Teddy falls in love

One sure way to make someone fall for you is to rescue them. Save someone for certain death and they will fall for you. This is why the film hero always gets the girl, even if at first she hates him. Trust me on this, I have done the research.

The dynamic duo of Teddy and Buhle continued to work together as a single unit like Voltron. Or is that the Autobots? Never mind. Teddy presented his case in kasified IsiZulu and Buhle translated to private school English. Working in close proximity aroused feelings – except the crush was one way. Feeling rescued by his translator, Teddy’s feelings deepened when Buhle gave him a friend zone kiss on the cheek.

The winner gets a kiss
Friend zone kiss?

As Teddy revved his engine at the feeling station for Buhle, Ntokozo sat back and watched her try to play mind games. Ntokozo has had experienced women, like Mazet and he found Buhle’s games “childish”. But for all of Ntokozo’s claims of maturity, he woke up with a “situation” in his pyjama pants, after a passionate dream about Mazet and Buhle, proving that he too is still a child.

Langa eats humble pie

Ntokozo had absolutely no intention of entering the debating contest, even with the competitive dad, Melusi, prodding him from behind with a sharpened pitch fork. But Langa’s arrogance was on steroids. The nerdy cheeseboy from Sandton already believed he would be outright winner and captain of the debating team. Challenge accepted, Ntokozo took Langa on. Back at the Molefe house, Langa foolishly made a bet with Buhle.

“If I lose the debate, I will wear your skirt for a week.”

Brave man.

Melusi’s two sons – well, he doesn’t know it yet that he is Langa’s father – Ntokozo and Langa went head to head, arguing over Nelson Mandela and the ANC’s sellout of black South Africans. It is a topic that divides South Africans. Langa argued that the ANC did not sell out black South Africa. Ntokozo opposed. And won. Resoundingly! Langa was a gentleman and honoured his bet. He walked into class the next day with Buhle’s skirt on, much to the pleasure of his classmates. Teddy immediately christened him Nomalanga. Unfortunately, all the taunting played on Langa, sorry, Nomalanga’s mind. On his next contest, he froze and walked off the stage in tears. Later, Langa confessed to Buhle that it was not the skirt that driven him to tears. It was the absence of their parents from the audience.

And the winner is…

The final of the debating contest was down to two friends, Ntokozo and underdog Teddy. Ntokozo opted to cede the contest (and the captaincy) to his friend. But Melusi would not hear of it. Only after Gladys reminded her husband that Ntokozo and Teddy are friends, not rivals, did the competitive school principal back off.

Ntokozo agreed to compete in the final but with less pressure from his father. The topic of the debate – “should sex education be the responsibility of school teachers” – seemed custom made for Teddy, the boy conceived by a school girl, 18 years ago. Discussing the topic with his mum, he learned how Zodwa fell pregnant in her teens. With Zodwa’s permission, he used his mother’s life story as a case in point for schools educating children about sex. As in earlier rounds of the contest, Buhle translated Langa’s harrowing story from isiZulu to English, which made it doubly powerful. Ntokozo’s argument for parents teaching their own kids sex education was as compelling as his Mandela presentation. After a brief conference, Principal Dlamini announced the name of the winner. Drum roll. Skip the drumroll. Teddy!

The winner loses

As Teddy left the school premises, with his winner’s medal in his pocket, he stumbled upon his best friend and his crush standing nose to nose. He arrived just in time to see Buhle and Ntokozo finally share the first kiss that the scriptwriters had denied us for so long. With head down, the victorious Teddy, walked away, feeling very much like he had lost everything.

Till next week, my pen is capped

Jerà

Gomora airs weekdays at 9:00pm on Mzansi Magic

 

 

 

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