Traffic! is a South African detective drama television series produced by Penguin Films which deals with the underbelly of Cape Town - drug trafficking and human trafficking - and follows Detective Lungi Mlaba who, in the course of a murder investigation, finds her own integrity is severely put to the test.
Despite being a brilliant cop, she is first and foremost a compassionate human being with her own needs and insecurities, trying to balance the demands of her home environment in the township with her working life in the suburbs.
Like every working mother, she is faced with tough choices about where her priorities lie. Lungi is deeply disturbed by the murder of two young girls in her Table View precinct: one an apparently homeless teenage street walker, the other, nineteen-year-old Mia Joseph, a beloved daughter from a "good home".
In Lungi's eyes, the two victims should be given identical treatment, regardless of their social standing. As more young girls' bodies are discovered and other young girls in the area disappear, Detective Lungi is in a race against time to catch the killer.
At the same time, she is trying to protect her own child against her dangerous ex-boyfriend, S'bu.
Detective Mlaba and her partner, Detective Sibanda (Mbutuma), want to ensure that victims of crime are given the same treatment, regardless of their social standing.
They approach their work in a complementary manner, as Detective Sibanda is a pragmatist who takes a more objective view to crime and Mlaba, although objective, tends to get her emotions entangled in cases.
They both have the responsibility of ensuring that in the course of duty they do not burn out due to the high demand of policing in Cape Town.
Produced by Penguin Films, the creative producers of Traffic! were Roberta Durrant and Kaye Ann Williams and the executive producer for e.tv was Lynn Gaines. The story is by Shirley Johnston with additional storylines by Roberta Durrant, Kaye Ann Williams, Justine Loots and Johnston. The directors on the series were Heleni Handt, Jenna Bass and Ferdi Burger.