Recent behind-the-scenes events on the set of SABC2's soapie
Muvhango have turned out to be hotter than the on-screen action.
Today (Thursday, 19 June ) the show's camera shy executive producer Duma Ndlovu made a statement saying that the soapie will not be renewing actor
Mutodi Neshehe's contract - which expired in May 2008 - because of his continued failure to pitch up for work and his unexplained disappearances.
"It was difficult for the production house to take this decision but unfortunately they were left with no option because things did not work out between us and the actor," said Ndlovu.
"Mutodi was called in to a meeting in February regarding his performance, he never took his job seriously, he was not committed and his performance was not up to standard."
"We spoke to him and his agent to address the issue of under performance and commitment, and gave him an opportunity to correct these issues, unfortunately he didn’t and we were left us with no option”.
He was allegedly supposed to shoot his final Muvhango scenes in May and didn't arrive for filming. Repeated calls to him and his colleagues were met with silence and he's never been back to the set.
Neshehe however has a different story. According to the Sunday World he demanded extra money to shoot his final scenes but Ndlovu refused to pay, so he in turn refused to shoot his final scenes.
“It’s like he is running a spaza shop. Everyone is somehow related to him. That’s the other thing I don’t understand,” Neshehe told Sunday World.
“He is a bully and people are scared of him. His word is final. Don’t you ask yourself why he loses good actors every year?"
Ndlovu disagrees.
"Pay is related to the work that you do," said Ndlovu. "You cannot be paid for work you haven’t done. We welcome him to come back and complete those scenes and be paid for them."
"We are confident that he will do well in his future endeavours, " Ndlovu concluded. "Young as he is we believe that with his experience, he is bound to go far. We wish him all the best in his next projects."
If past Muvhango ex-employees are anything to go by the future looks bright for Neshehe - actress
Khanyi Mbau's career exploded after Ndlovu delivered her a Trump card.
Neshehe, who's played Ndalamo Mukwevho since 2005, proved he has two left feet earlier this year when he was the first celebrity dancer to be ousted from
Strictly Come Dancing 4 - at around the same time the Muvhango crisis started.
The character of Ndalamo Mukwevho will be written out of the show and Neshehe will make his final on-screen appearance in November 2008.