JEREMY CROWDER: ACTOR NUMBER ONE
JEREMY is a young man who’s been doing theatre since his teen years. He used to perform under the watchful eyes of theatre experts like JOHN KANI and MBONGENI NGEMA. Somehow, between then and now he can’t seem to tell what really happened. All he knows is that he got left behind when success came around to get ‘some people’.
On rare occasions JEREMY appears on television commercials as an extra. Though this is not really paying a lot, this is truly a great brake for the guy. This gives him a sense of confidence. When he discovered SEAN, or when SEAN discovered him, he thought success finally came back for him. SEAN is the theater’s big dreamer and JEREMY is a great actor. Sometimes JEREMY thinks SEAN is taking too many risks. But he will follow SEAN to the ends of the world. PETER BROOK in Soweto…How about that.
JOHANVOS: The taskmaster
Johanvos is the guy that has done and lived it all. A scruffy looking middle-aged man, who mutters to himself at times but still, manages to talk sense. He is the man of the streets who can fix situations and manipulate people without any trouble. He appears and disappears, leaving a trail of utter awesome ghetto genius-ness that the rest of the people just stand, look, and act like they know his game.
After a good day’s work at his Shisa’nyama, he goes to the Hillbrow streets to catch up with his old buddies. He usually keeps it short and drive back to his business to continue either creating or solving another hectic street problem that's got everybody on the edge. Problem like these are usually like a walk in the park. Captain Andrew hates this guy with a passion for this very reason.
Johanvos chooses no sides. He can help both the honest and the crooks. As far as he is concerned his services see no colour, no gender, and no criminal record. Being friends with Jono The Judge he knows who’s dirty and who’s clean. He rubs shoulders with both the corrupt cops and the honest attorneys. But as far as he is concerned, they are ‘the same difference’. Law is just the game to keep people on their toes. But not him. His claim is that if one is smart enough, the law can never bugger him. That’s the kind of attitude that earned him powerful friends. As a result these friends earned him the right to open a Shisa’nyama directly in front of the gate of the prison and named his place after the prison: Sun City. This place is on the Southern outskirt of Soweto, about a mile behind Baragwaneth hospital.
JONATHA COMMERFORD: The judge
JONO The Judge is the man who earned his success in two opposing strategies. On the one side he was studying to become an attorney. And on the other hand he was a subtle drug lord, who got his supply from the Chilean illegal immigrants. On those days he was working with both JOHANVOS and ERIC The Mafia. The latter is currently the big enemy, while the former is still a business partner, only subtle. As soon JONO became a qualified attorney he got new connections and got involved with the Nigerians. While he thought he got rid of ERIC, ERIC mysteriously disappeared with the Chileans for fifteen years.
When JONO became an attorney he represented the Nigerians at the court of law as his big clients. He learned their way and their drug business while he kept close to their plan. They offered him some good deals and opportunities for wealth. He would kindly say no when it was too much, but take note of the weak points of these clients of his. They introduced him to LUCAS who was also just learning the Nigerian ways of raising capital, through his friend’s brother, ROWAN. JONO and LUCAS came up with the business for the black market to contravene the foreign exchange act after realising that there are more than 34 nationalities living in Hillbrow alone.
When JONO finally became The Judge he exposed the Nigerian’s boss, ROWAN, and took the power for his own use. At that point LUCAS realised he had to change his hustling plans and walk from direct involvement with The Judge.
JONO is the man with a solid principle of ‘take as much as you can’ and he’s done that for the most part of his life. The one thing he could not take or keep was his book of 66CASES which can expose his criminal history. It’s still a wonder as to who had the guts to brake into his home while he was busy in court.
KEENAN DANIELS and LUNGILE MCOSO: Street Wise Contacts
LUNGILE and KEENAN are the two ghetto contacts with flashy Gusheshes (BMW320is). They are available for any job from car theft (their specialty) to heists (they are mostly terrible at this). They see no gender, color, or age. All they see is money coming. Their shared policy is: “a job is a job”. Their life plans are usually short term based that go as long as a week. Beyond a week is a bridge that’s going to be crossed when they get there. They have been in the criminal game for more than a decade. It all started in high school with stealing the school stationary to make money for buying three-five (ALLSTAR shoes). They moved on to bigger things and started their franchise of Spaza robbing at night. CHRISTOBEL hates them with a passion because she was once a victim of their silly franchise.
They moved to working with BRANDT and IMRAAN back in the days when these two were confused by their boss’ disappearance. The four of them did some strange jobs like highjacking with one knife between the four of them. They had more trouble than money in those days of their crime career. LUNGILE and KEENAN found a solution to their problem: let loose of the two confused ERIC’ loyal criminals. Besides, they had no idea how to play the criminal game without the boss shouting at them. As soon as they ‘fired’ these Mafia-wannabe morons LUNGILE and KEENAN bought a broken gun from their friend (MARIO). MARIO told them that this gun would do the trick as long as they do not pull the trigger. True enough, as soon as they show the gun to the car owners (in the case of highjacking) the whole crime becomes easier. There was no need to pull the trigger at all. People are simply freaked out by the visual of the gun. When money started coming in they bought a used up Gusheshe and pimped it up to share between the two of them. They got the second one within four months after getting the first. These days they got a little more dangerous in their crime game. Somehow they learned that killing is not really as bad as people warned them against it. A job is a job, they persist.
KEVIN DUKE and KEVAN ASPOAS: KEVIN&KEVAN FHAFI INC.
FHAFI is a Chinese betting game played mostly by the retired and unemployed in most parts of Soweto. It’s actually for grandmas’ entertainment. The gamblers drive around in their bulletproofed bhaki and stop at specific corners for the grandmas to bet. This must be official, as the police do not heed these daylight gamblers. KEVAN and KEVIN make most of their money by disappointing the players. The funny side of this is that the people who bet, they do this according to their most recent dreams. If a player did not dream anything, which rarely happens, it is better for them not to come close to the fhafi people. Every now and again somebody does win.
KIM HENSHILLWOOD: The Pimptress@Sandton
KIM is a girl from Albertan, on the South of Johannesburg. She is the child who grew up alone at home and became extremely rebellious when she became a teenager. As a result, as soon as she finished school she immediately moved to town. She has been hustling for all her twenties. But the hustling sure has paid off. Their company, Pimptress@Sandton, is growing exponentially. More and more men not only enjoy the service provided, but also enjoy the idea that it is run by women. She and HELEN are friends from high school, though she was a grade lower. They started out as smoking buddies with similar life desires. Their original idea was to some day buy Sturbucks and open a brunch in Soweto. That was apparently too big a dream to follow through. They worked at the saloons, restaurants (met BABA and CLAUDIA in this industry), promotion companies, etc. It was KIM who suggested that HELEN approach ERIC’s surviving company for the resurrection of their pimping business after MARIUS pulled the plug. Though HELEN got more and more corrupt as they grew, KIM still keeps it clean. As a result she knows not what is HELEN cooking up with MK.
LUCAS VAN VUUREN: The Attorney@Hillbrow
LUCAS is the man who has a full right to the words: ‘I came I saw I concord…with a little help from friends’. He is originally from a small town called Ladybrand in South East of Free State. He moved to Jo’burg ten years ago. He hustled from the days of not having so much as a rand to buy bread up to the days of his current wealth. He is almost a millionaire thanks to his entrepreneurial skills that helped him start a law consulting business. It’s also thanks to the Nigerians, lead by ROWAN (his friend’s brother), for their remarkable skills of selling drugs to the people.
His business is going smoother than it used to in the beginning. Like MARIUS, he is boss to only female employees and they are extremely competent and demanding. They share a philosophy that men are hard to handle professionally. LUCAS usually says there can never be more than one bull in a kraal. His company handles all kinds of cases with no specifics with regards to either representing the criminal or the innocent.
MAKOSHA MAJA (MK): Private investigator
MAKOSHA is a hard working, self-employed private investigator. She studied law at Harvard University and she couldn’t take the politics involved in the South African practice of law. Having decided to quit she figured it was only right to practice law in her own American-motivated way. Though it was hard to establish this kind of business, she got the right formula to keep it standing and making her clients happy. She is one who will do anything to please the client. She may even be a bit of a vigilante provided that is what is required of the case involved. She claims that the law is at the hands of the people. Her understanding is that if people could realize this the whole struggle with life would vanish.
MAKOSHA’s practice of the law is very wide and she has no employees of her own. All she does is figure out what the needs of the case are and then start looking for the people according to the needed skills. Like her practice, her network is wide and she owes loyalty to no one. She can easily work for enemies and get away with it. She always makes this fact known at the very first meetings with all her clients. Some back off, but most take her services for she has a great reputation. To some she is simply the mediator on the criminal issues.
MANDY HENDLER: The first lady and The Pimptress@Sandton
MANDY is a creative woman who plays it cool and rough at once. She is divided into three lives. On the one life she is with HELEN and KIM at the Pimping business. On the second she is working for Eric as his liability for the R3mil debt their business owe him. The third, and most interesting is that she is directly connected to the Chilean underworld. There are various reasons for this. The outstanding one is that she simply loves cars and the Chileans are bringing a lot to Mzansi. Though illegally. She takes her chances by ordering cars that are out of the normal production line. Her previous order was the Bugatti Veyron16.4. She was told that this order is too hot; there are only a handful of them in the world. That’s definitely going to attract unnecessary attention. That’s when she settled for Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 Superveloce because there were only three hundred and fifty of those in the world and it was easy for the Chileans to organise.
She loves her first car (the dolphin: BMW 1990 M3) so much that she does not want to see the end of it. All she does is make it better and better while she tastes all the new and concept cars. If she wanted to leave ERIC’s crew she would, but she has a mysterious business under her nose and is comfortable taking orders from a boisterous IMRAAN. Following them is the story for another day.
MARCELLE DU PLESSIS: Bartender @ SunCity
MARCELLE is a German-speaking fellow from Windhoek Namibia. He moved to South Africa for his film studies, which are not going so well. He is currently having what he calls a gap year though he’s been out of campus for seventeen months now. He managed to get hold of the film practical job as a ‘cables guy’. He hates electricity with all his might, but this is the only job he could secure to get him close to the world he wants to meet. He mostly likes to work night shifts at Sun City so he can be available for any film shoot taking place during the day. He has to manage these two jobs while he decides whether to go back to studying or not. His main reason for the confusion is that he doesn’t really know what is it he wants to do in film. He likes editing, writing, and the camera work, but he wants to choose one of them and move on with his career from that decision. Until then, he can only be as close as a cables guy to the film world.
MARCELLE works hard at JOHANVOS’ Sun City (a.k.a Shisanyama) under the supervision of both SELENA and ROBIN. He is a bit of a shy guy, but extremely observant. He can see all the strange behaviors of the boss and his dealings with both the police and the criminals. He is the only one who knew about the relationship between ROBIN and MAKOSHA. MARCELLE is actually writing a fictional story about his bar job for pitching to the eTV producers. He believes he can make a fortune out of the experience he’s had with Sun City.
MARIO ARROW: FRED's wingman
MARIO is the bar manager in one of FRED’s Soweto Club called The Rock. This is a shisanyama bar and is a major competition to JOHANVOS’ Sun City shisanyama. This club brings in all kinds of people from as far as Soshanguve, Pretoria, which is the same for Sun City. MARIO promised FRED to bring in customers and he delivers on that promise. MARIO is great with the ability to hire the right people for the job. This club is practically his own as FRED only comes in to either hang out or just get what he needs and leave.
Sometimes FRED comes around to present MARIO with jobs that are outside the bar managing category. Though he fears going back to jail, he finds these jobs exciting. These jobs include looking after some drugs stock, stealing cars, and even house braking. The reason FRED feels that he can use MARIO like this is because they met in prison some years back and MARIO owes him for saving his life. When FRED got arrested he made it clear to all the inmates that he was there temporarily and he wants no trouble. Some took their chances and got hurt for doing so. One time he decided to fight for another person, since the constant bullying disturbed his peace of mind. This person was MARIO. MARIO was released five years ago and still feels like he owes FRED. Him friendship policy with FRED is simple: always keeps my end of the bargain.
MARIUS SCHREUDER: The Genius
MARIUS may look serious, but when time calls for it, he becomes Wolverine. He is the hero that has more under his skin than meets the eye. Though not involved any more, MARIUS is the man behind the secondary or underground economy booming in Hillbrow. He may be the attorney, but he is more a businessman than an attorney. He knows when to walk in and when to get out. He is a careful calculator with regards to everything he does. IVAN, the kid, is his personal accountant and is bringing a lot of great ideas on how to build an awesome empire.
MARIUS inherited both power and respect from his father, who was a well-known man in the whole of Jozi. Like his father, MARIUS owns property, people and some businesses. All this is mostly within Hillbrow. He is an attorney who never loose to the law as he can buy the police, the lawyers, and the judges themselves. Besides, he has the ladies to do both hard work and flattery.
MARIUS was a best friend to LUCAS until the ‘Bro Code’ was compromised. MARIUS is actually the guy who picked up LUCAS from the streets and showed him the world of opportunities around them. He also showed HELEN (his then girlfriend), MANDY and KIM how they can come up with a business that men would enjoy more than anything ever. He was in business with them for a year then they had a fight. He pulled his money and left them bankrupt. They had to find their own way.
He is on the board of directors at the public hospital (Baragwaneth hospital in Soweto). He’s been on this board for seven years now, and this serves as a good cover, though he does not really need it. To him, this is one of the ways he can give back to the community. A third of the Baragwanath financial sponsorship is from his own pocket. According to him, this is how James Bond would live if he was real.
As another tool to give back to the bigger community, MARIUS is also spreading the gospel of science in changing the world for the better. Archaeology and global cooling are among his best interests with regards to science. DAVE, TIM, MARK and STUART are his best contacts with this regard. This aspect of his life is his direct connection to the political world, He needs the political connection to help him avert some situations to suit whatever result he desires for the people.
MARK BLAND: The good scientist
MARK is a brother to LUCAS the attorney. He was once a doctor at Baragwaneth hospital thanks to MARIUS. MARK is the one man who will not do crime, but will not stop it from happening either. He went to school with FRANS, who turned out to be a drop out. He is now a physicist and FRANS works at the bank as a mere teller. FRANS changed MARK’s life when they were younger. Now all Mark needs is to give back the gift to the struggling FRANS. But FRANS is really irritated by this.
MARK’s goal is to become a successful physicist that can lead the community out of its self destruction. To do that he has to go to the planet Jupiter and find the proof of life he claims exists there. But he is a man with a lot of internal conflicts and arguments that almost always leads him to not taking any action, hence original work is a rare occurrence. His major character uplift came after TIM joined him as a fellow scientist on the mission to the planet Jupiter. He regards him as his ‘wing man’ and they are struggling with geology when we meet them.
MICHELLE KLEIN: Receptionist @ Marius’ Office
MICHELLE is a lady who used to be in the call center business before she came to work for MARIUS. She has a live, warm, and delightful personality that easily attracts the strangers’ trust, both telephonically and physically. It takes a lot, if at all, to get her angry or upset. She even believes that she does not know how to be angry anymore. She claims that when she was a teenager she listened to the words of the Dalai Lama and she got a beautiful spiritual life after that. Her favorite quote, especially with regards to anger management is: “when you are given a gift, you can choose not to take the gift”. She believes that as the people we are constantly giving each other gifts of anything from love, hate, rage, strength, hope, etc.
Most people who know MICHELLE treat her with a respectful and delightful energy and this is only because she gives only that with a generous smile. MARIUS always appreciates his choice with regards to her as the first face that meets troubled clients.
MICHELLE KOBLISCHKE : Officer with a mission
MICHELLE is from Protea North in Soweto. She always takes a ride on BRETT’s taxi coming to work in the morning. He always has stories to tell her during the journey and she likes that. She is the most humble and silent in the usually noisy and chaotic police station, but she has her moments. When those moments come no one wants to be near her. ANTHEA and SARAH are the only two who understands her properly. Perhaps that’s because they share a house with her at the moment. JAKKIE despises MICHELLE because of her unpredictable ‘personality shift’. Captain ANDREW, who is not good with people, had a problem the first time he met her and he figured he should avoid this girl. He has reasoned to himself, without any investigation, that she is either schizophrenic (if he even knows what that means) or always high on something. If need be, he speaks to her through other people. GINO is very useful with this regard. In MICHELE’s mind, Captain ANDREW is the crazy one.
MICHELLE is a last born from a big house of boys only. She and her mother were the only two females with five males in the house. She chose the police force because she wanted to prove a point to her brothers that she is as tough as them, perhaps even more. She hasn’t seen her brothers since she started serving as a police officer. They all left the country for New Zealand when Mandela became a president, back in 2004.
SBU and MPUMI: Windscreen experts
MPUMI and SBU are brothers and business partners with BATHANDWA., their older brother. They are both trying to convince their older brother that it is time to reshape their windscreen business and introduce new concepts. But BATHANDWA is stuck in the past and he loves this business just the way it is. This is one reason they almost always find outside opportunities, which mostly force them to steal from their family business. SBU is the true hustler of the two as he is always the one that finds the people to make deals with. FRED’s chop shop (next to their business) is one big land of opportunity on that regard. FRED’s employees are a bunch of easy money chasers who never calculate the long-term of their actions. And this is like a gold mine to SBU.
MPUMI is the youngest and silent one who only follows SBU if he is promised that BATHANDWA will be okay. But BATHANDWA has never been okay with anything they did without him. MPUMI lacks the upfront confrontational quality that his brother, SBU, uses to manipulate people. As a result he is always either finishing or correcting some details of SBU’s sentences at any given opportunity, except when it comes to the ladies. In situations like that he usually walks away from the task of shadowing his brother and get busy with something else. SBU is so smooth with ladies he even managed to get MANDY the pimptress to give it up to him. After she made it clear that it was a one-time thing, he started pursuing his next fantasy lady, the boss pimptress, HELEN. He is currently daring himself of such a big goal while MPUMI is trying to win his big brother’s trust once again.
NADIA HUDDLESTON: Le gintsa lady
Nadia is originally from a little town called Bulawayo. That is the Ndebele side of the country that used to be called Rhodesia, now know as Zimbabwe. She left home in the late seventies in search for a better life in the Republic of South Africa. After trying a number of many options given to her by her parents she ended up joining ERIC’s crew. Because of her loyalty to IMRAAN’s orders she got herself promoted quickly, which BRANDT did not like. She works closely with IMRAAN in all the areas of ERIC’s business. She can easily shift from the nice pretty lady to a tough ass-kicking girl that can take three guys down at one time. She is one person who vanished around the same that ERIC vanished. Her disappearance confused IMRAAN because he thought she was his ‘squizz’. Some say she followed ERIC, wherever he went, if not dead. Some say she went back home since she disappeared at the time when Robert Mugabe claimed independence and renamed their country to what we know today: Zimbabwe. Many stories, but the fact is she is gone and probably ‘moering’ even more men as we speak.
NATALIE KINGWILL: FRED’S LADY
NATALIE is a true French lady who would do her best not to speak a single word of English. That worked in France, but not easy in South Africa. After trying many times to bring FRED back to France, she decided to come and join him in his ‘Mzansi Dream’. Back home they had a winery business, which she tried to manage after FRED left her alone. When that business was put under threat and she failed with all she could do to save it, she had only her man to run to. FRED was not impressed with her sudden arrival because he had to explain himself to his local squizz, INGRID CROWDER. The wife is here to stay, the squizz had to bugger off.
Though FRED would not admit this to her, he is glad that she is here because he needs her accounting skills and she is the only person he can trust. The numbers for his many ‘unofficial’ businesses get a little too much and that is where she comes in. She is particularly taking care of ERIC’s mysterious account that FRED runs. She hates the idea that he is playing with the law, but she has no intention to start another fight like the ones they had when they lived in France. She is standing by her man through it all. SEAN is her major problem in this life because he is always bringing problems to her husband. She tries to be rude, but SEAN always beat her on her own game.
NICK GORDON: GANG OF BARA OFFICE
NICK is considerably the closest guy to his boss’ standard of handling both people and the business. According to MARIUS, NICK is by far the most serious guy in the Bara office. Whenever the two of them are in the same room they both seem like they are competing for who can out-serious the other. He is the main eye to the stock market performance with regards to MARIUS’ business. NICK is highly clued up with regards to the concerns of the money and the behavior of the stock market. Using the advices coming from IVAN (who is great with numbers) and MARIUS he is always in the position to take well-calculated risks to buy and sell in the stock market.
NICK has a conundrum he’s never had before: he has a crush on two ladies (Sue&Sue) at once. He is a proud man who would rather keep it professional than give in to his ‘silly emotions’. He blames staying single for too long for such a conundrum. His solution is to find himself a lady to escape all this and be able to respect his colleagues properly. He is busy trying to ‘hook up’ with the striper, TALYN PERDIKIS.
Nikki, the Russian: Criminal Attorney @ Lucas’ Office
Nicky is originally from Russia and whenever she mentions this people ask her about the likes of Mavericks, Teazers, Hustler or anything to do with the porn industry. In the beginning she couldn’t understand this confusion from the people. Then she learned the Russian girls’ reputation in South Africa. She now gets the stereotype. It is actually helpful to her because she can differentiate between a gentleman and a pervert as soon as she meets a man.
Nicky was among the first group of people that started with Lucas when he opened his business (Attorney@Hillbrow). She and Rowena were the only ladies back then, with four men including Lucas. She is currently the lead attorney on all the cases involving car thefts and house braking and the insurance there of. Second best to her line of office is Ingrid, who handles similar cases. Nicky had lots of trouble practicing law in this country before she met Rowena, who is powerful in her own way. It did not take Rowena much to avert that problem. She simply (mysteriously, to be precise) came up with some papers that allowed Nicky to be a permanent resident until further notice. And just like that, she was a qualified South African attorney. And she is a hard worker at her profession.
NICOLE REDELINGHUYS: The tough cookie
She is the youngest and physically quickest in the whole ERIC crew. Some people confuse her for an Asian girl because of her moves, the only bugger with that is that she is blond and look nothing like an Asian. She tries to keep to herself, but being surrounded by intimidating men at all times she has to prove her worth by acting a bit tough. They respect her when they need to. Otherwise they mostly disregard her for the fear of being kicked randomly.
NICOLE adores and respects RACHMA for her bravery among these men. She went to the same school as MK who is currently LUCAS’ spy. The two of them are two sides of one coin. They were best friends at school. MK chose law and education while NICOLE chose the pursuit of martial arts in Asia. She traveled the whole East continent in five years. She can now read and write in three different scripts (Western, Asian, and Arabic). When she came back she had no intention to work a formal job. All she wanted was a job that would allow her the opportunity to keep her martial alive. She clearly made a wrong choice when she joined the ERIC crew.
PHIWEKE NQEZO: The lady with the grand plan
PHIWEKE is originally from Kimberly. She moved to Jo’burg after getting into some trouble with the municipal officials with regards to the housing deals. She is a lady who always knows how to manipulate the life situations to serve her best. She believes that where there are enemies there is always a potential to make a fortune. She has lived by that rule and it has paid a great dividend over the years. This is no surprise that her daughter, MAKOSHA, ended up practicing law the way mama does her business.
PHIWEKE may stand out as a simple lady who simply likes shopping and spending her time with her daughter. The truth is that she is anything but. She is the silent smart lady who always has a grand plan. She was at the heart of the 1976 youth struggle and she made money from the enemy (then government). After realizing that the people were connecting dots with regards to her conduct she figured it was time to leave the country. She conceived and raised MAKOSHA while she was living in the United Kingdom. When MK finished high school PHIWEKE got her favours from her mysterious political friends. These connections are the ones that got her daughter to Harvard. Harvard wasn’t really smooth sailing for MK but she got through because her mom did something to get her that degree. They both moved back to South Africa after MANDELA’s office time. Somehow PHIWEKE knows THABO MBHEKI personally. Perhaps from her UK life. This explains why she thinks there is no way anybody can touch her for whatever she did with regards to the 1976 youth struggle.
RACHMA EBRAHIM: The feminist
RACHMA is the lady who kicks a lot of ass. She is half sister to both ROWAN and MARIUS through her dad and she does not appreciate being associated with them. She is her own heroine, even though she takes orders from a boss. She is a silent woman who keeps to herself and takes orders directly from ERIC, not from a clueless man like IMRAAN. More often than not she has something to counter on whatever IMRAAN suggests. In people’s terms, she’s always right. Some even call her ‘Miss Always Right’. But rightfully, she is Miss Eye-opener or open thinker. She does not always oppose, but often offers options to arrive at the same or better solution. As far as she is concerned she is surrounded by a bunch of lunatics. But she sticks around anyway.
ROBIN NIXON: The bigger swindler
ROBIN is the assistant to JOHANVOS and the bar manager at the Shisa’nyama business. He runs his own sub-businesses, which includes stealing from JOHANVOS and dealing with the Harvard graduate, MK. He is extremely quick with numbers and reading people. He can tell a con from a mile away. Perhaps that’s because he plays that game himself. ROBIN is truly the silent killer, for he can smile with one while he is destroying the very idea of one’s existence. JOHANVOS picked this young man back in the days when JONO decided to split ways with JOHANVOS and pursue a career as a judge. ROBIN learned a lot of tricks from the man he spent most of his days with, JOHANVOS.
ROGER WILLIAMS: The forensic expert
If it’s anything to do with the physique, be it dancing, karate, kickboxing or any kind of martial arts, ROGER has tried it all. The trouble is… he thinks they are all nonsense. He wants to start his own kind of martial arts, which can combine more than two of these martial arts together. He has little time to work out exactly what it is he wants with regards to that since his profession always consumes his time. He is a Wits University Forensics graduate at a master’s level. He has a bit of interest on the political world and knows how the country’s system works. CAPTAIN ANDREW often calls for him on crime scenes because of his expertise on finding the overlooked details. It is his small magical device that always helps him to figure out the details that are usually overlooked by others.
ROGER is a social friend to TIM and MARK through the science’s network community. Their common social topic is quantum physics, which has a lot to do with their wonder about the existence of life on other planets. For the two physicists, ROGER is a good source of the chemical information.
ROWAN EVA: Nigerians’ King
ROWAN is the only South African who can control the stubborn and mostly corrupt Nigerians. He got the training of control from his father who was a highly influential man in the whole on Jozi. While his brother, MARIUS, went to school and study the law and order of the society, ROWAN followed his father like a shadow. He observed all the tricks of power and influence. After proving his worth to his father he found his own field of interest. This field is to dominate all the Nigerians who are taking control of the economy and streets. He got control of their drugs businesses and their pimping joints. When some of them moved to better business territories like black-dollar and 419 scams they thought they were free from him. He sent them a message that he is still in control by showing them his total understanding of their scams.
The Nigerians respect ROWAN for two main reasons. One: his brother is a big attorney in town and can get them exposed and deported anytime. Some run to LUCAS’ company for protection with this regard, but he can only do so much. Two: some of them know him from the days when he was the shadow to his father, who originally orientated them in Jozi. His father was like a god to them with his corrupt business ideas. He would go all the way to Nigeria to recruit the ‘managers’ for his shady businesses. He really liked their will to try anything to make money. The Mzansi black brothers just didn’t have enough spirit to carry a business. All he saw among them was what he labels as PHD (Pull Him Down). The irony is that the PHD happened on him from the hands of JONO The Judge, whom he thought was on his side. When Rowan got to business with JONO in his mature days he has one intention, which is to avenge his father’s death.
ROWENA FESTER: Corruption attorney @ Lucas’ Office
ROWENA has been in the game of law since before LUCAS could even think of leaving Free State. She goes far back with JONO The Judge. It was she and JONO who came up with the plan to take control of the dubious apartheid laws. Experience has convinced her to believe that the politicians can be easily manipulated with the right law tools.
In the early days JONO and ROWENA had the power and influence and did not need to hide who they really are. But now the new democracy is buggering them. As a result she has to hide behind closed doors and stand as a ‘clean’ law firm partner. In the twenty-first century she is known to us as Lucas’ business partner in Attorney@Hillbrow, protecting anyone from corrupt politician to small time CA’s. It was she who resurfaced the business after LUCAS had a clash with MARIUS. ROWENA and JONO jointly funded this resurrection with their old dirty money. The dramatic question concerning her is: Can corruption really fight corruption?
RUTH CHOWLES: Chief justice
RUTH is originally from Menlyn, Pretoria. She moved to Jo’burg after she got her PhD from Oxford University. She started practicing law from as young as twenty-four and worked her way up. Her career was almost disturbed when her daughter’s father, who did not know about her pregnancy, suddenly left for Brazil. She pulled through and got her pride and respect back. Now she controls every court from the constitutional court down. Being a single mother with such a powerful position, RUTH believes in empowering women starting with her own daughter, HAYLEY.
She does not hate men, but just bothered by the patriarchal society. She is careful not to seem sexist lest she looses her high position. She would rather be pro-women empowering, rather than be anti-patriarchal. She may feel that way, but that does not affect her law practice, as she is a loyal server of justice. Most of the corrupt high court judges including JONO do not like her at all. They named her ‘Ruthless’ as some of their fellow court members fell on the bang of her hammer. JONO might act like he knows it all and not scared of her, but deep down he is, and she can see that.
SAMITHA BRIJLAL: Criminal Attorney @ Marius’ Office
SAMITHA, also known as SAM, is an absolutely ‘no-bullshit’ lady. She always speaks with a straight, expressionless face that commands seriousness from the recipients of her words. At times people confuse her for an angry woman with the grudge on… well, everyone. Deep down she a fantastic woman. The only trouble is that each person has to earn her expensive (and beautiful, really) smile. Not only does she have an expensive smile, but she also speaks when she absolutely have to. She is mostly working hand in hand with DOMINIQUE and MARIUS. She handles cases ranging from divorce settlements to murder. She has a well crafted mind for the practice of law. MARIUS values her honest criticism when need be and her commitment to the firm. He is the only one who ever saw SAM smiling. That being said, he’s seen this smile not more than the number of the fingers of his one hand. SAMITHA is respected by all her colleagues simply because they can’t figure her out. And that is making life easy for her because everyone seems to understand her formula: leave me alone.
SARAH PILLAY: The heroine cop
SARAH is the first lieutenant at the Meadowlands police station. She's Jon of arch of the police department. She protects her officers from the roaming teeth of the law and the streets. She's argumentative but never loses her sense of fairness. Her only trouble is that she is mostly protecting the troublemakers. Most officers simply do not deserve to be police officers. She loves the lady power in the office and would really like to lead the station one day. Under her belt she has twenty officers. She know that ANNE is half clean and half dirt. But in her view, justice is sometimes served like revenge… cold. She hates the attitude of their new captain, ANDREW. To her he seems like he is here to get rid of all her officers. She believes there is something about him that is wrong and she will find it and prove to him that we are only human and just trying to get along. There should not be any room for the heartless like he is proving to be.
SEAN HANEKOM: The theatre king
SEAN is Mr. Local Celebrity with one bugger in mind. He is extremely devastated by the new theatrical genres that took all his audiences. He is trying to make it through the days, but the new theatre is really big and outrageous. He only has two options: join the new crowd or do old tricks with new tools. He has a great idea, and that’s to either build a theatre house in the middle of Soweto; or take PETER BROOK’S Rough Theatre to the streets of Soweto.
He believes this theatre will be a success in a sense that it will encourage local talent from the ghetto and attract the tourists visiting Soweto. SEAN chooses to keep his involvement with the drugs business as subtle as possible. He is one of the clients in Mandy, Helen, and KIM Company and Fred is trying to use him to get closer to the ladies. His ambition is a really big drive in his journey to do the impossible. He is often lucky because of his followers: SHAMEEMA, CLAUDIA, BABA, JAMES, CANDICE, and JEREMY. SEAN’s favourite quote from a ‘Big Theatre Book’: “…for when they believe in you, they help you believe in you”
SELENA ABELSE: Lady bartender @ SunCity
SELENA is the lady who came down to South Africa after leaving Kenya in the early nineties. She is the trusted assistant bar manager at Sun City, The TASKMASTER’s shisanyama. She used to work at FRED’s bar, The Rock, in Rockville. She quit that place after MARIO asked her to do him a favour outside her job description if she wants to be promoted. When she moved to JOHANVOS’ bar she made it clear to ROBIN, who hired her, that she will not be taken for granted because she is a woman. She got promoted after five months of working there. She suspects that there is probably a lot going on around her but she likes the fact that the boys keep their business to themselves. She applies herself in her work with a bit of flirt and tease at the boys who come to the bar for drinks. But she knows her limit.
SELENA is studying a Humanitarian course through UNISA. She wants to go work in an impoverished country like Afghanistan. The reason she wants to specifically go there is that she knows poverty from first hand she wants to help the ones that are most affected by it. She claims South Africans have no idea what true poverty is. She believes in the balanced good for all and the good of that country is taken away from its people. This is one of the reasons she hates the Americans (bloody Yankees, in her language). She will finish her corresponding in a year’s time and she is already working on the funding for her trip to Afghanistan.
SHAMEEMA ISAACS: Movie star (Love interest)
SHAMEEMA has a goal to become the movie star regardless of the surrounding actors’ failure in SA. She is an ex-girlfriend to LUCAS, who is avoiding her these days. While LUCAS avoids her she is keeping a close contact with MARIUS who is mentoring her in her dubious mission to survive the tough actors’ world. She was there before LUCAS became the Attorney@Hillbrow. She’s been with MARIUS since she broke up with LUCAS. She was the main reason for the end of their friendship. It still beats her how MARIUS left HELEN for her.
SHAMEEMA recently made new friends with BABA, the siren and CLAUDIA, the lady on the fast track. These two follow her word gullibly, just as she does that of SEAN. She saw an opportunity in this and proposed that they be bad girls with the mission to take their careers into a bright future. But things are simply tough. This is where a new friend comes in as a helping hand. ANINE is a friend who offers direction to SEAN the director. This helps SHAMEEMA see the career direction clearly.
SHARON HENDRICKS: Corruption attorney @ Marius’ Office
SHARON is one tough partner in MARIUS’ firm. Her breakthrough was when she busted the corrupt police officers that were selling the evidence back to the criminals. She has been in the practice for twelve years now. She bought the business partnership about a year ago. She has always worked closely with MARIUS in cases of fraud or corruption and she enjoy these. She has got a lot of experience from him since he invests a lot of dedication and sensitivity to cases of this kind.
SHARON is brilliant in the art of dealing with people. They can come in whatever class, race, age or attitude and she comes with a humble people’s skill and break them down to just being normal people. She knows a thing or two about the corrupt nature of JONO The Judge and shares this with MARIUS. She and MARIUS have been waiting for the opportunity like this to present itself for a long time. Maybe this time around they will catch this dirty judge.
SPENCES HOLMES: Long-time novice
SPENCER is one man who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Firstly, he was just lost when IMRAAN confused him for the new guy they were expecting. Apparently IMRAAN was waiting for him for a while when they were recruiting. SPENCER saw an opportunity and kept the truth to himself. God knows what happened to the guy they were waiting for.
Secondly, SPENCER always has trouble figuring out the character of BRANDT, which makes his job really difficult. In as much as this is difficult, SPENCER would rather be here than go back to his previous life. When asked where he came from, he usually make up stories that are self-contradictory. The truth is that he is from Snake Park, which is located on the North West of Soweto. His reason for leaving that place was that everybody firmly believed that they are close to the “Tornado”. Tornado in this context is a snake the size of the anaconda, or bigger, with the spiritual powers and the ability to fly. Hence, the name: Snake Park. People just disappear and the remaining people just blame that on the “Tornado” as they point towards the mining dumps. This was too much to handle. ERIC’s crew is SPENCER’s home now
STUART RANDALL: The novice physicist
This is a trained scientist who just recently started working with TIM and MARK. MARK, STUART and TIM form a team that tries to see science where there isn’t. According to them science is everywhere. STUART is a man who enjoys the company of the Soweto Banyana (girls). He just realized that while studying he lost a lot of time with the ladies. Now he’s trying to catch up. He keeps this information from his fellow scientists, who are clearly not into laides. He always finds time to make work wait and serve his ladies curiosity first. When on site he just vanishes then reappears after hours. On the serious note, he is the one who seem to have fresh original ideas at all times. He just never sees them through, which is where MARK comes in. MARK lacks originality these days, but he has enough patience to see all the projects through. This kind of tenacity is absolutely absent in STUART’s personality.
SUE DICKSON & SUAAD LEVY OR SUE&SUE: GANG OF BARA OFFICE
SUE&SUE are the only ladies in MARIUS’ team of trusted Bara gang. They would really rather not be labeled as the gang as they both consider themselves as professional ladies. They claim that ladies do not join gangs, but get into business. They both used to be in MARIUS’ law office of only ladies. They wanted the spotlight that was scares in that office.
After proving their accounting and investigation skills they were grunted permission to work in the only-male office at Baragwaneth hospital. Before this transfer, MARIUS had no need to label this office as ‘The gang’ because he would just distinguish the two with gender. These ladies are proud to call themselves Sue&Sue as though they are a company on their own. They are well respected by the four guys they work with. They are adored more than they are respected and they know it. They are even aware that NICK, who will not admit it, has a crush on both of them. The man wants to die with his pride and they respect that.
TALYN KWELI: JOHANVOS’ SQUIZZ
TALYN is an Irish lady who came to South Africa after her grandparents gave her their house in Bezvally, east of the Jo’burg. She is a shy person and very sensitive about how the locals make fun with her Irish accent. TALYN is the only child to her parents and the last grandchild in her family. Her parents are based in Mumbai India as they claim they are on a spiritual journey to help them deal with their mid-life crisis. She honestly thinks they should just divorce and stop being in denial. But she still appreciates the effort to hold on to one another. She has been living with her grandparents for the most part of her teenage years and she spent a lot of time thinking about how she would like her life to be. Africa was the first move on her calendar of the pursuit of happiness.
She lost her grandparents’ property through a boyfriend who was in the drugs business. After they lost her house he just vanished and she was left stranded. FIEZEL met her when she was almost on the verge of a breakdown and offered her a showgirl job at Teazers in Rivonia. He told her that he expects to be paid back for offering her a chance at having her life again. The pay back was when he offered her to JOHANVOS as his Squizz whenever JOHANVOS visited the club. Apparently FIEZEL owes JOHANVOS and TALYN is the perfect payback tool. She is looking for a way out of this mess. She chose not to ask her family for any help because of shame. She has not heard from her parents for the past three years and this is not a problem to her at all. She talks to her grandparents every Wednesday morning and lie to them about the house whenever they ask. All she wants right now is to get that house back and go back home. Home is Cork in the southeast of Ireland.
TANIA COETZEE: The receptionist @ Lucas’ Office
TANIA comes from Germiston on the east of Joburg and she has been in the city for the past four years. She did an office management course with Boston College. When she finished she just didn’t want to go back home. After campus, she worked in the call centre business. She only started at LUCAS’ office a year ago after she tried to sell a cell phone to YUMNAH. YUMNAH, who was new at the time, did not want to disappoint the nice person on the other end of the call and she made an offer instead of buying the cell phone. Before she knew it she was helping TANIA apply for a job at the office.
Ever since she’s been in the office, she has no weekend, holiday, and not even public holidays. There seem to be a lot of work pouring from all directions and she is not even complaining. She is a smart lady and she likes this pressure because it helps her to catch on the law practice. She is trusted to always go an extra mile. LUCAS is a little too much with regards to sending her around and he would rather not be the guy who teaches her the game of law. She figured his attitude: “catch on or get a grip”. She presently has a bigger dream than the one she had when she came to town. And this dream is to become a law partner when she’s old enough.
TASNEEM HIGGINS: Corruption attorney @ Marius’ Office
TASNEEM is among the hardest working attorneys who has her own high ambitions with regards to the law practice. In her career, so far, she managed to get involved with big cases involving the politicians and other corrupt business people in the public eye. It was very hard to get to doing that, as MARIUS personally likes to deal with cases of this nature. After proving her worth while working with SHARON she finally got a case of her own, which got her the approval she needed from MARIUS. This was a great move since she honestly could not wait to see something happen with regards to the success ladder.
She recently applied to become partner, as she believes that she has the right skills and is ready to buy in. The trouble is that she still needs to grow up a little bit. MARIUS explained this to her after her father told her hundreds of times. She needs to be older than thirty-five. Coming from a wealthy household, TASNEEM cannot wait to start contributing towards her own wealth. This thing of receiving a salary while the firm is making millions does not really sit her well. With that trouble in mind, she keeps her focus sharp and she has not lost a case for the past two years.
THERESA LOZIER: The producer.
THERESA is originally from Mamelodi, Pretoria. She has been in Jozi for the past decade. She is the current manager of SEAN’s label and is lately doing a terrible job. SEAN has fired her sixteen (16) times in the past eitght years and just could not live without her. This goes on until he meets ANINE, who manages to change his theatrical arena. THERESA had many theatre successes with SEAN, but she just can’t help with his new PETER BROOK delusion, which seems to be steering everything around. She tried to creatively reproducing some of SEAN’s old material. But the audience turnout was just bad. SEAN wants his fame and fortune, but THERESA knows not how to give it to him. She has great social friends that help her through the tough times. These are SUE DICKSON and CECELIA, who are both law professionals. These friends always remind her to never go back to theatre, let alone going back to the mad director like SEAN. But she always finds a way to forgive him and start afresh. Educationally, THERESA did psychology and continued with a post-grad in theatre at Wits University. She is the producer in the making, though her talent is buggered by the wild creativity of SEAN.
TIJEN LIVENT : The insurance attorney @ LUCAS’ Office
TIJEN was born into the business culture. Her dad was an adventurous entrepreneur who always started businesses that kept failing. He finally got it right. In his experience with life he can probably claim that he has more business ideas than Richard Branson. At one point he wanted to adopt the American idea of the burgers business. He just wanted to do it the local way with the boerewors rolls. TIJEN’s mother has always been a business accountant through all these business attempts. This woman has always been patient and supportive of the big dreamer husband and father. TIJEN has always been close by her mother. As a result she learned the power and behaviour of money. She got herself a bursary to study B.Com at Wits University.
It took her two years to figure out that she does not really like what she is doing. When she realized this she had a chat with her lecturer at the time. After explaining precisely what she likes to do with her life, they came to a conclusion that she should do Business Law and add two more years for the LLB. she will then need to write two articles. She just finished all of those studies two years ago. The job with LUCAS’ firm is her first job. She sometimes represents big clients like grocery store owners with their money troubles. However, on a day-to-day basses she deals with a lot of ROWAN’s boys and girls with their scams. This is mostly hard since she is always in a compromising position of representing the guilty parties. She is doing it for the love of it and she has to take it as it comes
TIM YOUNG: The physicist
TIM is the only son of ERIC and they are both not aware of that. It’s only JONO who knows about this connection between the two. TIM had a lot of hustling and struggling through his studies. But he kept his vision clear to himself thus graduated top class as a physicist at Wits University. He had to work through a number of jobs just to survive the years of varsity. Even after graduating it was still hard to get by as he is in an unusual industry and reached the Masters level. Usually companies reject people who are ‘too qualified’.
He was personally hand-picked by MARIUS from one of his energy-consuming jobs as a barista at the corner shop in Hillbrow. MARIUS saw a great kid with a potential. He discovered that he could use his influence to put TIM’s skills to a good use. He has been working at the hospital under the rule of various people who respect MARIUS. TIM was doing a variety of researches on a number of scientific issues. Recently, he and MARK (together with the new guy, STUART) started studying the content of the soil in the whole of Soweto. He believes they are up to something big.
YUMNA SADAN: The girl with vengeance
YUMNA is a lady from the South parts of Jozi, Glenvister, to be precise. She has a masters’ degree in arts and culture. She has excelled in her career as one of the top creative individuals in the broadcasting world. She is the one who initiated the Mzansi’s coming together of art and architecture. Some of her great work is appreciated by JZ himself, who is all about collaborating his Zuluness and a laany life of a president. It was always a great opportunity for YUMNA to shine on the spotlight. However, she crumbled down after the death of her sister, who was her only family. She just vanished from the creative world.
YUMNA is currently a member of ERICS’ crew because she is planning to take down BRANDT. Back in the day when BRANDT was a small timer and confused by the disappearance of ERIC he killed YUMNA’s only sister. This is the time when he and IMRAAN joined forces with LUNGILE and KEENAN. YUMNA is extreme patient and is a careful planner. She has nothing else to live for rather than prove her worth to her late sister by killing the dubious character of BRANDT. Justice is to be served her own way even though she consults the law (MK and INGRID) for advice.
YUMNAH DAWOOD: Criminal attorney @ Lucas’ Office
YUMNAH is a lady from Jabulani, at the center of Soweto. She is one of the six junior attorneys in LUCAS’ office. She is working terribly hard just to move from the junior classification. She has a dream to become her own boss some day. The big plan is to have a consulting firm with a ‘women first’ code of conduct. LUCAS usually gives her cases that involve petty crimes like the street boys and girls breaking the windows of the cars just to get the items left on the seats. These cases usually have a dead end since her police contacts are a lazy bunch and she has no energy to tell people how to do their job. Whenever LUCAS involves her in the big cases like murder and robbery she always makes an impression with her work. According to her, that promotion is on its way.
ZUMMI RINQUEST: Corruption attorney @ LUCAS’ Office
ZUMMI is a lady originally from the retail business. She only started practicing law about six years ago. She started by working for the government in the district offices and moved on to private companies after she realized that it was time to make money and practice real law. She is presently the student of law serving ROWENA and LUCAS’ firm. Her speciality is with the corrupt business people. She is particularly responsible for representing the corrupt world of the Hillbrow Nigerians. She was approached by LUCAS for this job after ROWAN figured he needs to have some kind of second opinion company. After ROWAN made this move his brother, MARIUS fired him as a client. That’s when ROWAN started taking chances with the law and the game of the pimping business.
While figuring out how to best represent the people she was originally afraid of, ZUMMI studies the Nigerian’s dealings with all her might. Among other things, she understands their different processes of contravening the Foreign Exchange Act. She knows these shady businesses so much that some of her clients confuse her for one of the original engineers of the black-dollar and 419 scams. To some she is practically the law face of their world. She enjoys this credit because it testifies to her that she is in the position to manipulate the manipulators when need be. If at all asked, she would probably testify that she is more loyal to the streets than the law. In her time of serving ROWAN and his streets she is learning that in this world one has to fight for her will and survival, lest people take it from her hand. This is one reason she is not scared to take risks of leaking private company information for her own advantage. She is the main source of information for ERIC who is trying to get to JONO through ROWENA and this firm.
A taste of the story:
INT. MARIUS' NUMBER ONE OFFICE DAY
MARIUS is in his office with the three ladies he is leading the MANDY case with, CECELIA, DOMINIQUE, and SAMITHA. All three of these ladies are dressed in tight formal skirt-suits that reveal both the legs and the cleavages with some standard generosity. MARIUS is perusing through papers as they come in. He looks up from the documents to first appreciate the way in which the beauty of these three ladies compliments each other. Dark, SAMITHA; creamy CECELIA; and fare, DOMINIQUE. They all have brown eyes complemented by their true facial beauty. These ladies are standing in a manner that only allows one to appreciate the whole package as one. CECELIA is in the middle, she is the color cream in between the fare to her left and dark to her right. Both the white and dark are of the same height just three inches bellow her. Thought SAMITHA doesn't smile much, when she does she makes the whole room shine. And today she did as she was trying to show her sympathies to her boss who was contagiously attracted to smiling back. As gorgeous as these ladies may look, they are equally professional as they take instructions from MARIUS. He is leaving the office at their hands, as he wants to focus on a case of his brother's death, though not quite legally. He paraphrases as he reads the current leading case to them.
