If you thought the shenanigans in the office of the parliamentary chief whip of the African National Congress (ANC) couldn’t get any more entertaining, think again.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is to flight a 13-part television series next month, centring on a fictional chief whip and his ex-wife, also an MP in the party, in a story that includes blackmail, sex and lust for power.
The series comes in the wake of the sagas of Tony Yengeni, jailed for fraud, and Mbulelo Goniwe, axed over a sexual harassment claim.
Ironically, Goniwe himself was interviewed by the production team at the beginning of last year, when they were researching the series, titled 90 Plein Street.
The series, commissioned by SABC Education and produced by Born Free Media, revolves around what the SABC said in a release this week is an independent-minded ANC MP, Dineo Nkgatho, (played by Warona Seane) struggling to reconcile her own idealism and sense of justice with the requirements of the parliamentary system.
The character’s life is in disarray after her divorce from the ANC chief whip, who at one stage orders that she be disciplined.
To add to the drama, the chief whip’s political adviser is having an affair with a journalist and may or may not be the source of embarrassing leaks to the media, and the chief whip himself — played by James Ngcobo — is blackmailed over his business interests.
Producer Mandla Sibeko said on Thursday that the script had been completed by the time the Goniwe saga reached a head, but that filming — much of it done using the Gauteng legislature as a substitute for the corridors of Parliament — is still under way.
”When Goniwe started happening we found it interesting,” he said. ”The actors found it very interesting. There was a lot of debate around the goings-on in Parliament.”
He said that while the series used the names of real parties — a Democratic Alliance MP also features in the production — the story lines were entirely fictitious.
According to SABC Education, the series offers an insight into the work of parliamentarians, including oversight of government, representing the public and creating legislation.
”[It shows] how Parliament works and how the public can get involved, what happens … but put into a drama. So it’s not boring,” said Lesley Fahey of SABC Education.
”I think it’s going to be a good one.”
The series, largely in Sotho, but with subtitles, will air on SABC2 every Wednesday at 9.30pm from February 7. — Sapa