Season 2
Home Affairs is a South African television drama series created and produced by Roberta Durrant for Penguin Films which tells the story of nine very different women whose lives are interconnected by universal synchronicity and examines the connections people share with one another, unwittingly or not.
The series aired on SABC1 from 14 July, 2005 to 11 March, 2010. There are 65 hour-long episodes in four seasons. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 originally aired on SABC1 from 10 January to 4 April, 2006, on Tuesdays at 22h00. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 13 episodes in the second season.
Season 2
Home Affairs 2's central focus is on women’s stories which reflect the diversity of the millions of women found within our country.
In the first season of Home Affairs viewers were introduced to a number of South African women whose lives were very different and yet linked by the force of synchronicity.
The second season of this 13-episode drama series explores the strong connections between these women in greater detail. Through a series of accidental collisions, coincidences and events beyond their control, they have become part of each other’s lives.
Estranged mother and daughter, Katleho and Thandeka (Lerato Moloisane and Ntathi Moshesh) were reunited during the course of the previous season. But their painful history and complicated roles in each other’s lives makes their newfound relationship anything but straight-forward.
This is exacerbated by the presence of Thandeka’s sister, Nonhlanla (Nomsa Xaba) who raised Katleho and is irrevocably involved in the emotional confusion which exists between the three women.
Their new journey of reflection and self-discovery is one of trying to make peace with the past and find forgiveness in the present.
Vuyokazi (Brenda Ngxoli) used sport as a way of elevating herself and escaping the misery of her home existence. Now a student at university, she is faced with one of her greatest challenges as she tries to succeed academically.
But her life is further complicated by the introduction of a new character who stirs up feelings in Vuyo that she has never had before. On top of this, Vuyo continues to take responsibility for the welfare of her younger sister, Buli (Yonela Duze).
Her mother, Miriam (Vatiswa Ndara), undertakes her own journey when her struggle with alcoholism threatens to destroy her family.
At the end of the previous season, Cherise (Therese Benade) abandoned her newborn baby. Unknown to her, the child was found by Thandeka. But after enduring an abusive relationship and the traumas of childbirth and rejection, will Cherise find the reserves of strength she needs to escape the misery of her current existence?
The former flight attendant, Ntombi, found love and happiness with Remy as the previous season ended. But she is blissfully unaware that her most heart wrenching and soul searching journey is yet to begin.
In this season, Ntombi and Remy are played by newcomers Masello Motana and Leroy Gopal.
Then there is Nandi (Andrea Dondolo). She returns to her job in the Home Affairs office upon returning from an adventure overseas. But now she sets her sights on new experiences and a new challenge involving her own business.
Home Affairs 2 continues to tell stories which are real, but also inspirational. They are stories of struggle, but they are also stories of triumph - journeys towards self-discovery, love and empowerment.
They confront head-on the reality of women’s lives and the unique challenges they face, as well as exploring what keeps them apart as well as what draws them together.
Home Affairs 2 illustrates a universal truth: women may come from different races, religions and backgrounds, be of different ages and speak different languages, but ultimately are not as different from each other as one may think.
They are all human beings searching for the same things: identity, love, happiness and acceptance. These are the things that the women of this series are searching for.
About the Show
Home Affairs is a drama by women for women.
It tells the story of nine very different women whose lives are interconnected by universal synchronicity and is about the connections people share with one another, unwittingly or not.
The women's stories reflect the wide cultural range of South African women. The women each undertake a journey of self-discovery, connecting with each other in various and random ways.
Katlego is a drama student at university who has to reconcile the emerging sense of her African identity with her Eurocentric upbringing.
Her journey collides with that of Thandeka - a highly driven NGO executive who dedicates her life to causes, but discovers that no cause can fill the void in her personal life - a void that began with her abandoning an infant child.
Vuyokazi is one of the lives touched by Thandeka's organisation. She uses sport as a way of elevating herself and escaping the misery of her home existence. Vuyo is not alone in her journey. She takes responsibility for the welfare of her younger sister, Buli.
Ntombi is a flight attendant whose job reflects her life - she is never grounded, always on the go and only experiencing life and love in fleeting moments.
Shanti is a doctor who has to balance the expectations of her family with listening to her own inner voice and being true to her heart.
Shanti's work brings her into contact with Cherise. Cherise is in an abusive relationship. Her challenge is to find the strength within herself to save her own life - and the life of her unborn child.
Katherine is Katlego's oldest friend who undertakes a journey of self-discovery to determine her identity as a white woman in post-apartheid South Africa - a country she still wants to call her home.
Finally there is Nandi, who works in the Home Affairs office and has always lived vicariously through observing other people's activities ... until now.
Home Affairs was unique for South African television in that most of the key production roles were filled by women:
Producer (Roberta Durrant), directors (Minky Schlesinger, Catherine Stewart), writers (Rosalind Butler, Lodi Matsetela, Makgano Mamabolo, Sacha Clelland-Stokes, Minky Schlesinger), director of photography (Natalie Haarhoff) and the cast.
The show struggled for ratings in 2005 as it was competing in the hottest Thursday night timeslot - its competitors were the first season of The Apprentice: SA on SABC 3 and the first season of Desperate Housewives on M-Net.
The title of the show - Home Affairs - was supposed to have a duel meaning: affairs close to home and the more literal meaning of South Africa's Department of Home Affairs, where identities are found and lost, and where one of the characters works.
Unfortunately most South Africans view the Home Affairs office in a very negative light, and the season was almost over before viewers started realising that the dreary title did not match the surprisingly good quality of the show.
Home Affairs was created by Roberta Durrant with Portia Gumede, Makgano Mamabolo, Lodi Matsetela, Rosalind Butler, Catherine Stewart, Minky Schlesinger, Dennis Venter and Thomas Hall. The theme music was by Murray Anderson and Warrick Sony and the series was produced for SABC1 by Penguin Films.
Seasons
Series exclusive to SABC1
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 14 July 2005 | Finale: 6 October 2005 | Thursdays, 21h00
Season 2 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 10 January 2006 | Finale: 4 April 2006 | Tuesdays, 22h00
Season 3 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 31 May 2007 | Finale: 23 August 2007 | Thursdays, 21h00
Season 4 (26 episodes)
Premiere: 3 September 2009 | Finale: 11 March 2010 | Thursdays, 20h30