We had hope that
Hope would be returning to Moja Love this month but it turns out something new is starting instead.
Ke NAKO: Our Times... the channel's new 208-episode telenovela, which premieres tonight (4 February) at 19h00.
It's a Sesotho soapie created by Lesotho-based production house Landlocked Entertainment and it's going to air Mondays to Fridays.
Buckle up your seat beats and tuck into this info. pack about it:
The show in one sentence AKA the tagline
When life goes so fast, not all of us are spoiled for choice.
The story
Ke NAKO portrays shifts in generational lifestyles, which are often in direct conflict with the norms and values of an indigenous Mosotho person.
The series explores the inside the world of Government’s dark and corrupt civil and construction industry, unravelling its rogue business dealings that plague the economy of the tiny community.
The multi-tiered storyline is premised, in larger part, on the unforgiving and often cruel environment that exists among tenderpreneurs as they pursue the largest slice of government tenders, their major source of business in the industry.
The storylines and characters in the series deal with the social and economic impacts of these number 1 social and economic ills as they affect ordinary people.
All these are reflected through experiences of different characters as they face different encounters in life, ranging from rape, betrayal, love, lust, crime, corruption, money laundering, deceit etc.
The characters range from the wealthy and powerful, as in the ruthless Monyane Mpharoane, who will stop at nothing, including murdering one of his very own, to get what he wants.
Then there are the Mphatsoes and the Mofokengs who are constantly at loggerheads over who are the rightful heirs and beneficiaries to the wealth and properties owned by their now ailing father and mafia tenderpreneur, Molise Mofokeng.
There are also ordinary college students torn between pursing their studies, as per the will of their parents, and pursuing their dream as Hip-Hop music artists.
Lead characters
Please note: the actor credits are unavailable. We'll update once they are.
Monyane Mpharoane (39)
Although personally likable, Monyane is an utterly ruthless businessman, a cold blooded killer ready to eliminate anyone standing in the way of his business successes and aspirations.
He owns a construction company named Front Row Engineering, which he acquired after the brutal killing of his uncle and mentor Sello Mphutlane, Mamoroesi’s father.
Ironically, Mamoroesi is Monyane’s wife. Meaning they are cousins.
No one in this world, including Mamoroesi, knows that Monyane himself murdered his uncle. No one knows that Sello Mphutlane had another child (Teboho Mphatsoe) with an unknown woman out of wedlock.
After Sello’s murder, Monyane took over all of his uncle’s businesses and has managed them with an iron fist.
He threatened to silence Mamoroesi if she ever let anyone know that they are related. No-one, including Mamoroesi, knows why it so important to him that the secret be kept. All everyone sees is that he's very abusive towards her and treats her like his personal asset.
Monyane grew up under very difficult circumstances. His uncle took him in when he was very young and worked him like a slave. He never sent him to school like his own children and used him to do his dirty work, turning Monyane into a heartless killing machine. Crime is in his blood.
This is how he does his business. Bribery, money laundering, drug and human trafficking, murder etc. are his norm to get anything he wants. He has a daughter called Moroesi with Mamoroesi and he's fathered another child with his PA, Palesa Mofokeng.
More about Palesa coming up later.
Teboho Mphatsoe (45)
Teboho is a medical doctor and the illegitimate son of the murdered Sello Mphutlane. Teboho didn’t really know his father growing up apart from hearing about him from his mother. He despised him for leaving his mother to raise him in abject poverty while he was living large with his other wife and children. This is why he used his mother’s surname.
He knows nothing about his father’s fate or anything about his businesses. As the story unfolds, Teboho is living a normal and decent life, with his wife (Makhahliso Mphatsoe) and two children: Karabo (22) and Khahliso (19).
Nobody knows about his roots. He is highly respected by his community. His fortunes turn when his daughter (Karabo) falls pregnant by Monyane’s nephew, Sekete. Overcome by his rage, he kills Sekete and all hell breaks loose in his life.
The evil Monyane sends for his kidnapping and tortures him and takes way everything from him, including his monthly salary, to avenge his nephew’s death and then hands him over to authorities.
While in jail, awaiting his sentencing, everything about Teboho suddenly comes out into the open.
Makhahliso Mphatsoe (42)
Makhahliso is Teboho’s wife. A no-nonsense business woman and source of conflict between the Mphatsoes and the Mofokengs.
She owns and runs all the businesses owned by her father, Molise Mofokeng, a reality that directly conflicts with Basotho’s culture that stipulates male children as beneficiaries and heirs of their families’ wealth.
Hence the Mofokengs believe all these belong to Molise Mofokeng’s only son, Thabo Brian Mofokeng.
Makhahliso runs the show in her family. Teboho does not have much say. After Teboho’s arrest, Makhahliso believes that he left her for his nurse, Katrina, who she believes Teboho is having an affair with and who is now occupying one of the rooms on her property commune.
She decides to kick Katrina out but Katrina will never leave without a fight. Makhahliso later finds that her husband is in jail for murder, and this is when things turn for the worst when Teboho‘s dark secrets are revealed.
Palesa Mofokeng (29)
Palesa is Makhahliso’s younger sister and her fierce critic. She works as Monyane’s PA and is also having an affair with him. She hates on her brother Thabo for not fighting for what she believes should be his as the only male child of Molise Mofokeng.
She takes the battle upon herself to correct the wrongs of her father so that Thabo owns the property. At least that’s what she wants everybody to believe. But she actually wants the property to herself. An opportunity presents itself when Makhahliso falls ill and needs a kidney transplant and she is the only one who can give it her.
Khahliso Mphatsoe (20)
The younger of Teboho’s daughters, Khahliso is always at odds with her parents because of her dream to become a female rap superstar - a career her parents believe is not suitable for a girl child.
Although quite a strong character who always gives the Mofokengs a run for their money when it comes to her mother’s businesses, she is vulnerable when it comes to dating older men. She loves power and money.
After her father’s arrest, she meets Monyane and falls for him, admiring the influence that Monyane has in everything. After her father resurfaces in prison she believes Monyane is the one who found him and she asks that he sets him free.
Katrina (26)
Katrina is Teboho Mphatseo’s main assistant nurse at City Academic Hospital. She develops feelings for her doctor boss that take her into the world of near madness.
She tricks Teboho into allowing her into the commune. She leaves a trail of false evidence at Teboho’s office, using any tool she can lay her hands on to make his wife believe they are having an affair and to separate them.
The plan works and Makhahliso goes ballistic, wanting her out off her property but to no avail. The move later back fires when Katrina claims ownership of the property and collects all the rent money for herself.
Her extreme psychopathic obsessions intensify as she sees things that nobody sees and believes that she is having a relationship with Teboho when she isn't.
-----