It's all happening on Mzansi Magic this July with a blitz of new shows and seasons including the return of Living the Dream with Somizi and Please Step In.
More about the full line-up comin' up next week but in the meantime, TVSA has the inside scoop on two new primetime dramas in the line-up: The Republic and Impilo: The Scam.
The Republic tackles Mzansi Magic's popular Sunday nights from 7 July at 20h00 and stars Florence Masebe (Muvhango, Ring of Lies) as President of South Africa.
Impilo replaces Lockdown the day after, on Monday, 8 July at 20h00, and sees Desmond Dube (Dube on 2, Hopeville) return to acting instead of advertising as the series' lead troublemaker.
It's also going to air on 1Magic, starting on Saturday, 6 July at 20h30.
Here's a shot of both:
The Republic
From the producers of The River and Giyani, comes the story of one woman who needs to do what a man cannot. Run a happy country!
The series is produced by
Tshedza Pictures and stars Florence Masebe as President Lufuno Zandile Mulaudzi, South Africa's current president who must fight the corruption and ills of her predecessor, Hendrik
Verwoerd Zuma Mbuli.
The show's premise is that Hendrik Mbuli replaced Kgalema Motlanthe as President in 2009, resulting in an explosion of corruption and looting of state funds.
Hendrik was fired in 2017 and President Mulaudzi was elected in his place. Her election bucked the system in more ways than one because she wasn't Deputy President but the Party Secretary.
She's spent the past two years fighting corruption and prosecuting those who benefitted from Hendrik Mbuli’s presidency - including Hendrik himself.
Others who star in the series include Warren Masemola (Tjovitjo, The River) and Masasa Mbangeni (Scandal!, Housekeepers)...
President Lufuno Zandile Mulaudzi
Lufuno is the daughter of a Venda father and a Zulu mother. She was born into a family of struggle heroes and it was only natural for her to join the movement when she came of age.
She joined the struggle as a 16-year-old and left the country to join the MK training camps in the 80s.
Thabang Ranaka
Thabang is a fallen hero, trying to make amends for his past mistakes. He grew up in Soshanguve, and joined the police at a young age, when the love of his life Bridget fell pregnant.
Thabang was from a broken home, with an absent father, and his mother always struggled to put food on the table.
Bridget Ranaka
Bridget grew up in Soshanguve, but was sent to private schools because her parents were rich and owned a supermarket.
She was always extremely ambitious and hardworking. Her friends and family couldn’t believe it when she started dating a young township (what they considered to be) thug.
Impilo: The Scam
Desmond Dube stars as Khulubuse, a Bad Dad in Debt.
He uses his greedy, opportunist ways to manipulate his naïve and desperate son Mnqobi into scamming the community through a pyramid scheme called Impilo.
The series is produced by A Tribe Called Story, a production house that was started in 2017 by three filmmakers who met at M-Net's Magic Motion in Academy (in the Class of 2015). Here's more about them:
Mail and Guardian's 200 Young South Africans list.
Also headlining on this series are newcomer Sipho Mdingi as Mnqobi and Sthandiwe Kgoroge (Generations, MTV Shuga) as his mother Nokulunga:
Khulubuse
He's smart, intelligent, manipulative, opportunist, funny, trickster, caring, eloquent, cowardly, condescending, confident, articulate, treacherous, untrustworthy, selfish, protective, all about image, a dreamer, hardworking and meticulous.
He wants to use his son to scam the community, and also mend the broken relationship he has with his family.
Mnqobi
Khulubuse and Nokulunga's son.
A hustler, trustworthy, supportive, selfless, funny, naïve, caring, eloquent, confident, articulate, protective, a dreamer, hardworking, empathetic, impulsive, friendly, a friend to all, modest, extrovert, determined, focused and very stubborn.
He needs to be more realistic about life. Not everything is black and white. He needs to see that his father is manipulating him and stop being naïve.
Nokulunga
Mnqobi's mother | Khulubuse's ex-lover.
She's conservative, supportive, caring, over-protective, hardworking, empathetic, friendly, modest, religious, stubborn, courageous, confrontational, strict, trustworthy, loyal, resilient, over-functioner, controlling, expects people to be the way she wants them to be, impatient, blunt.
She wants her children to have a better future than she had. She is saving to put Mnqobi through university.