The latest addition to our Sunday night Mzansi Magic television marathon is a new series called The Herd, starring Sello Maake ka Ncube, Winnie Ntshaba and Sihle Ndaba. The cast also includes veteran actor Peter Mashigo and Zethu Dlomo, to name a few.
I, unfortunately, missed the first episode because our electricity suppliers periodically plunge us into the darkness, so watching this week’s episode was an unofficial backstory to the Mthethwa Family of Eikenhof for me.
First thing I’d like to just put out there, the levels of witchcraft in Mzansi Magic dramas is dizzying at times.
That said, it seems to me that the Mthethwa Family’s patriarch Bhekisizwe is part of the reason why it seems as if his family is falling apart at its seams.
His obsession with his daughter Kayise (Sihle Ndaba) is, unfortunately, pushing his other children away: he seems to openly favour her, and it's causing a great rift in the family.
And then, there’s the "small issue" of his wife MaMngadi (Winnie Ntshaba) being all kinds of evil. she seems to the head of an unholy trinity of local witches and convinced her now-husband many years ago that it was a good idea to sacrifice his wife... for his herd.
Winnie Ntshaba as MaMngadi in The Herd. Picture: Instagram
Then there’s the daughter Lwandle (Zethu Dlomo) of the man who Bhekisizwe screwed over, who is now a gunslinging bandit, trying to get her revenge on the Mthethwa’s by camouflaging her identity and stealing their cattle.
And don't get me started on the closing shot is of his wife, standing with an uneaten plate of bewitched goat liver that’s supposed to put him under a spell so that he can sacrifice his daughter to save their riches. Issa lot. But The Herd's quality cast and strong plot will surely keep you coming back for more.
