The venue before everyone arrived.
Keep a lookout for an album of pics and goss - coming soon.
Muvhango's 15th birthday bash went down at The Forum in Bryanston, Jozi on Thursday night and starred a dramatic announcement by SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng: the cast are getting a salary increase.
Needless to say the actors exploded with delight at the news. While everyone whooped at the thought of their new bank balances all I could think about was Mutodi Neshehe who was sitting just behind me.
Mutodi who left Muvhango in a
cacophony of controversy four years ago when a standoff erupted between him and series creator Duma Ndlovu over Mutodi's salary.
Mutodi who wasn't paid his final salary on his contract because of the dispute.
To fill you in in case you missed it at the time: Duma claimed that Mutodi wasn't paid because he didn't finish filming his contracted scenes and Mutodi claimed that he'd completed his contractual obligations and was asked to come back after his contract expired.
With all that's gone on between them I was intrigued that Mutodi was at the shindig so I snapped myself over to him to talk money and salaries, thinking he may be likely to talk.
As you know, it's one of the most taboo topics in South Africa - the American actors blurt their earnings to anyone who'll listen but in South Africa everyone's so tight lipped about it its impossible to know what the standard sort of salary is.
The only person who's happily dished the details is Khanyi Mbau (obviously!)
who told me that she earned R42 000 for her role as Doobsie when she was on Muvhango. She said that she thought that Mara Louw used to earn about R65 000 for her role as Catherine.
I asked Mutodi if he thinks this sounds accurate and he said that he thought Mara would have earned more because of how long she'd been on the show.
So what's an average salary for a soapie actor? What salary do they want? I asked. According to Mutodi R30 000 is the make or break figure.
"I would think any actor who's a full time actor shouldn't make less than R30 000," he replied when I asked. "That's what I think, it doesn't mean it's what happens."