The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu
AFTER enthralling Zimbabweans with such television productions as Gringo the troublemaker, Studio 263 and Battle of the Chefs, veteran director and actor Ben Mahaka is set to make another attempt at winning the hearts of small screen lovers with Gaza, a production set and made in Chipinge.
Mahaka recently premiered the trailer of Gaza, product of the Zim Digital Migration programme that is sponsored by the Zimbabwe government through the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, on his social media page.
Mahaka, who rose to fame as Tom Mbambo in the popular Zimbabwean television soapie, Studio 263, is one of the country’s most decorated film and television practitioners, counting among his accolades the National Arts Merit Awards while his productions have brought him remarkable recognition at special regional film festivals such as the Lake International Pan African Film Festival.
The Chipinge drama series, “Gaza”, explores topical issues that are familiar to local audiences, as the production, helmed by experienced hands Yeukai Ndarimani and Mahaka, focuses on child marriages and gender based violence in urban and peri-urban settings. The production is shot in Gaza Township, in the town centre and in growth points around Chipinge.
“Gaza”, is the story of Rosy Muyambo, a character played by Gamuchirai Maphosa, a 14-year-old school girl who, when she falls pregnant by her boyfriend, Remington Sigauke, played by Tapiwa Timirepi, elopes to his home.
Besides the story of teenage love gone wrong, the other major thread in the production is that of Ethel Sigauke, played by Lynah Dube, a young married young woman struggling to break free from an abusive marriage to Dumisani Mudhluli, played by Ben Mahaka, but facing stiff resistance from her family. Playing the manipulative man in a relationship will certainly not be new to Mahaka, who pulled it off with aplomb on Studio 263.
Although he indicated that the series would debut on local screens soon, Mahaka did not give an exact date for when the production will eventually premiere.
