Season 8
Season 8 begins with Portia who is living with her aunt Maria and uncle Odwa. They stay where they work at the Birchett smallholding. Portia complains that she is not feeling well and needs to go to hospital.
She leaves the house and writes a note saying she has gone back home. On her way to Masakhane Clinic she's accidentally hit by a beer bottle which a drunk Zuko was trying to throw away.
Zuko had been walking with Mandla and Naledi when Thulasizwe (taxi driver) and Thebe (his friend) see them with Portia.
The following morning she's found by the clinic staff outside having given birth and is discovered to have very high blood pressure.
Zanele discovers that Portia died but her baby is still alive. Since Portia was found in an unconscious state outside the clinic, no one knows her name and the campaign to identify her is launched.
Zanele traces Portia's uncle and they visit the Birchett's smallholding where he works. It is revealed that Portia and the baby, Simphiwe are HIV+ and the question is who is the father?
Joan (Maria's employer) suggests that Odwa is Simphiwe's father. Joan and Maria go for an HIV test. When the results come back Maria is HIV- and Joan is HIV+.
Later, Duncan is tested and is HIV+ and it comes out that Duncan had raped Portia and was the father of Simphiwe.
In another thread of the story, Dali (Zanele's husband) spends some nights at his friend Zach's house in the city as he is working late. Zanele discovers that Dali is having an affair and this is the real reason he has been spending time at Zach's.
After finding out about the affair, Zanele decides that they are going to use condoms and Dali is not very happy and decides to leave and go stay with Unathi his girlfriend.
After some time, Dali decides he wants to get back with Zanele and goes for a HIV test. The test comes back negative and Zanele tells him to re-test after the window period of three months.
She doesn't trust him anymore and decides that they should stay apart.
In another story, Mandla is fed up with Zuko's drinking. After the stabbing, Zuko realises the dangers of alcohol and asks Mandla to help him get rid of alcohol in his own life as well as in their community.
They start an anti-alcohol campaign which lands them in trouble with the police and the advertiser of alcohol in the township.
Zuko and Mandla are supported by their schoolmates but the court gives them 100 hours of community work and they have to pay for the billboards which they defaced.
To be able to pay for the billboards they come up with a dance competition.
At Masakhane Clinic there is a drive on maternal health and antenatal care. The women are taught about hypertension and different diseases that they can have during pregnancy.
There's also a drive to encourage pregnant women to test for HIV so as to be able to protect their babies from transmission if they are HIV+.
A transport project is started with a taxi driver who is booked to take pregnant women to the clinic when they are in labour to avoid deaths when transport is unavailable.