Season 3
Zone 14 is a South African television drama series produced by Angus Gibson for The Bomb Shelter and set in a typical township location which focuses on the daily lives of two warring families - the Sibiyas and the Molois - and the Tiger Boys, a soccer team with high aspirations in the league.
The series premiered on SABC1 on Monday 7 November 2005, at 20h30. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 3 premiered on SABC1 on Monday 12 July 2010, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at the same time. There are 104 episodes in the third season.
Season 3 Episode Teasers
Season 3
At the climax of Season 2, Stella and Digger were busted for dealing drugs and hauled off to jail. King's soccer team won through to the 1st division and the community celebrated.
Sizwe "miraculously" arose from his wheelchair and walked to the tavern where he declared to a shocked Tiger and Nandi that he wanted access to his daughter, Lebo.
As Season 3 begins, outraged that Sizwe is claiming Lebo as his child, Tiger attacks Sizwe. Nandi pleads with Tiger not to kill Sizwe - she just wants him to admit that he raped her. But Sizwe denies the allegations, and states that Nandi was not an innocent in their sexual encounter.
Outwardly Sizwe pretends to be a changed man. He claims his "miraculous" recovery has turned his heart and he wants to bury past hates and start again. Tiger exacts a promise from Sizwe to keep his mouth shut about Lebo's paternity; they are all concerned about her frail emotional state.
Sizwe and Tiger's conflict ceases – on the surface at least. King's marriage proposal to Nina is seen as a solidification of the truce and Sizwe welcomes King into his family.
Sizwe secretly plots to weaken the foundations of the Sibiyas by reinventing himself as a "man of God" and working to win over the community by restoring his good name and legitimising his business practice.
Publicly he denounces Stella and Digger's drug empire, however when he realises that drugs will be sold in Zone 14 by someone else, he decides to take matters into his hands.
Aided by his deadly apprentice, Sledge, Sizwe makes a deal with a drug dealer, Duke, which positions his funeral parlour at the axis of a lucrative distribution network. His only rule – no drugs are to be sold in Zone 14. While Sizwe masquerades as an anti-drug crusader, his empire grows in neighbouring areas.
With first division promotion, King reclaims the name and legacy of the Tiger Boys and assembles one team from the old Mighty Bombers and Stella Stars. Management seeks to professionalise the team, which involves controlling all aspects of the player's lives.
King makes Sgonondo captain and gets him to implement a strict fitness regime. Gogo manages their diet, Pinky takes on the role of PR and Tiger contracts the players using a tight fisted approach.
Tiger commits to finding the team a sponsor. This is complicated by the player's on-field indiscipline and the nickname they receive in the press: "The Cannibals." Pinky turns this "bad boy" reputation to their advantage and their celebrity status grows.
Tiger connects with the owner of Amahawu Security, Austin Ntabele. Tiger regards Austin as a God-send and he signs a sponsorship deal, but what Tiger doesn't know is that he's being set up by Sizwe, as Austin is Duke's boss.
Austin's condition for investment is that they acquire a brilliant and expensive playmaker, Loyiso.
Sizwe pays off Sonja to wrongfully accuse Loyiso of rape so that it will destabilise the team and ensure poor results. When the allegations prove unfounded, Sizwe doctors Sonja's identity document so that it states she is a minor, and Loyiso is charged with statutory rape.
In the meantime, Pinky's relationship with Sgonondo is the catalyst for her to go on an emotional journey that takes her back to her childhood and forces her to confront the abuse that she experienced at the hands of her father.
Sgonondo's inner strength brings out Pinky's vulnerability and during their first sexual encounter, she sees a disturbing flash of a man's face.
When Pinky sees a photo of her father in Tiger's office, she makes the connection that he is the man tormenting her dreams. With Maradona's support, Pinky discovers that she was abused by her father. Together Pinky and Maradona are both able to move on with their lives.
Austin approaches Tiger with a proposition. Isaac, a businessman, needs a partner to invest in a big 2010 tender and is attracted to Tiger's soccer pedigree and tavern business. Tiger falls for the deal and invests most of the R500K he and King received from Austin's share purchase.
Tiger uses the balance of the money to support Nina's ideas to revamp the tavern with a strategic eye for making the most of the upcoming World Cup.
Sledge succeeds in getting Zonke to take performance enhancers and when Sizwe tips off the authorities, Zonke fails an anti-doping test.
Loyiso appears before the magistrate and a trial date is set with the prosecution determined to make an example of him. SAFA is alerted that Mba's working visa is forged and he is prevented from playing.
The team plummets into the bottom half of the log and Austin's bonus system falls away. Tiger's catering consortium tender fails and his money is locked to the investment. With Tiger in financial freefall, Sizwe makes his move, offering to buy shares in the team.
After much soul searching, Tiger signs over 21% of the team to Sizwe, and the status quo "miraculously" improves: Mba's working visa is renewed, Zonke gets a suspended sentence and Loyiso's case is thrown out of court when it is discovered that Sonja lied about her age.
Nina falls pregnant. But she is fearful that S'khalo is the father. She ends her affair with S'khalo and tells King that the baby is his. The Sibiyas celebrate and Nina rejects S'khalo when he demands a DNA test. Angry, S'khalo sends King a videotape recording of him and Nina having sex.
Betrayed by his wife's infidelity, King forces Nina out of the Sibiya house and confronts S'khalo. A fight ensues and S'khalo stabs his father. King is rushed to hospital, and fights for his life.
Season 3 Cast Changes
Season 3 introduces some changes in the cast line-up with the character of Tiger Sibiya now played by veteran actor Patrick Shai (replacing Owen Sejake) and Thuli Thabethe taking over the role of Pinky Khumba from Terry Pheto.
Seasons
Series exclusive to SABC1
Season 1 (52 episodes)
Premiere: 7 November 2005 | Finale: 20 November 2006 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 2 (52 episodes)
Premiere: 7 May 2007 | Finale: 28 April 2008 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 3 (104 episodes)
Premiere: 12 July 2010 | Finale: 6 July 2011 | Mondays and Wednesdays, 20h30
Season 4 (104 episodes)
Premiere: 13 July 2011 | Finale: 9 July 2012 | Mondays and Wednesdays, 20h30