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Ifalakhe: a pre-colonial drama

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New drama Ifalakhe actors on Mzamsi Magic. Pictures: Supplied
New drama Ifalakhe actors on Mzamsi Magic. Pictures: Supplied

Sundays just got more entertaining, thanks to Stained Glass Productions’ Gugu Zuma-Ncube, together with Mmamitse Thibedi and Thuli Zuma, putting out Ifalakhe (His Inheritance) - a pre-colonial drama series which tells the story of two brothers fighting over an inheritance.

Last Sunday, friends, investors and cast members got a glimpse of the first episode at Urban Moyo in Sandton.

Audiences joined “Sunday Black Twitter” and described the show as something they would have liked to see turned into a movie.

Others dubbed it a reincarnation of the Shaka Zulu series, but many tweeted that they loved the production, marvelled at the costume designs and use of language, and were happy to see a balance of new faces and those of well-known actors on screen.

Bheki Sibiya, who plays Khombindlela, king of the Okuhle tribe, said: “The fact that the story was precolonial, with no white people, Indians or Chinese, was attractive to me. This role provided me with an opportunity to tell the story of Africans and how we lived before colonialism.”

Executive producer, actress and story supervisor Gugu Zuma-Ncube said Ifalakhe was long overdue.

“Some people call Shaka Zulu a pre-colonial drama, but the period of Shaka Zulu colonisation had already happened. The story itself was by white people talking about Shaka through their lens. This is the first truly pre-colonial drama on our screens and it’s done with black people, especially black women, driving the process.”

She added that it took a lot of fighting to become both a producer and creator in a primetime slot.

Ifalakhe airs on Mzansi Magic 161 at 8pm every Sunday

“It’s a travesty that it took us this long to see what we were like before white people came. I think this show is overdue and important. It’s not a historical piece and there’s no historical accuracy in it. It follows no real tribe. Although the tribes depicted are loosely based on the Zulu and Khoisan, we have borrowed from all over the continent.

“We just wanted to present a precolonial visual representation of what we were and what we could have been, had white people not come.”

She said she drew inspiration from her Zulu culture and upbringing.

“Ngikhule noGogo with aunts, cousins, parents and siblings. I love who I am and I am not ashamed of it. I want to celebrate it. Every human being is hungry to see themselves represented in a way they can access. I write what I know. I know black people.”

Ifalakhe airs on Mzansi Magic 161 at 8pm every Sunday.


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