His shyness frustrates Buhle, who longs for him to say the things she wants to hear. And so the scene is set for a deception that seems like the perfect solution, but in reality will only cause damage.

This is the scenario for episode 20 of the acclaimed SABC1 drama, Intersexions, which is co-produced by Curious Pictures and Ants Multimedia, in partnership with Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA) and SABC Education, with funding from USAID and PEPFAR.

Muzi and Buhle live in a rural KwaZulu Natal village, where their love remains unrequited due to his overwhelming bashfulness. But things change when Muzi’s cousin, the silver-tongued slam poet, Vukani, arrives home from Johannesburg – and they hatch a Cyrano de Bergerac-style plan, in which Vukani will use his performance skills to woo Buhle on Muzi’s behalf.

But Vukani also has designs on Buhle, whose older sister, Ntombi, indirectly warns her to not fall for the wrong guy. When Muzi catches Vukani kissing Buhle, he is heartbroken, leaving Buhle to try and convince Muzi that she really loves him.

Vukani then turns his attention to Ntombi, who sees him as her perfect means of escaping the village. They leave town together, destined to become lovers.

“This is a classic love story, set against the picturesque backdrop of rural KZN and incorporating the beautiful oral history of traditional Zulu music. Muzi and Buhle’s courtship may be old-fashioned, but it is a universal tale that will appeal to anyone who has felt a deep longing for another – and the paramours eventually find each other, despite the heartache they endure along the way,” says series producer, Karima Effendi.

“However, Muzi and Vukani’s plot to woo Buhle by proxy is fraught with dishonesty. Firstly, they are employing deception to achieve Muzi’s aim of winning Buhle’s heart – when she already loves him and her heart is there for the taking, if only he had the courage to overcome his insecurity.

“And secondly, deceit lurks in Vukani’s heart. He professes to be helping his cousin, but what he really wants is to seduce Buhle for himself. And when it becomes clear that he cannot, he turns his attention to her sister without missing a beat,” says Effendi.

Honesty and manhood are central themes to this episode of Intersexions and speak to the idea that real men show how much they care about the wellbeing of others, and themselves, through their words and deeds, says Lusanda Mahlasela, of JHHESA.

“Muzi needs to be honest with Buhle about his feelings for her. Instead, at the behest of Vukani he resorts to deception to express his real love for her, revealing his own immaturity in the process. However, the irony is that this situation eventually forces him to summon up the courage to verbalise his feelings, and take the next step in his relationship with Buhle.

“In turn, the equally immature Vukani is virtually incapable of being honest; in the previous episode, he glibly told Sylvia that he loved her, simply to get her into bed.
“He has yet to learn that to be recognised as a real man has less to do with how many women he seduces, thereby placing himself and them at great risk of dangers such as HIV infection, and more to do with living his life honestly and with sincerity,” says Mahlasela.