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ESWATINI TV LAUNCHES NEW SOAPIE

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MBABANE – Inspiring fresh content. Lately, Eswatini enjoys the arts industry bearing fruits of different forms.


Yesterday, the television station launched a new telenovela, at a conference that was held at Thokoza Church Centre in Mbabane.
The new telenovela titled, ‘Emabulawo’ (Generational Curses), stars fresh talent from Eswatini such as Bongani Shiba, Lisa Mavuso, Buyani Simelane, Qibho Intalektual, Nobuhle Vilakati as well as seasoned actor Nqaba Tsela.


Eswatini TV Commissioning Editor, Celiwe Dlamini, who also serves as the producer for the show, revealed that ‘Emabulawo’ was a success story from the television station as it was an internal production.


Telenovela


“We started writing for the telenovela in April last year, with Modison Magagula as our head writer so that we would be able to tell our own stories,” Dlamini said.
Magagula is a renowned storyteller in Eswatini, having written many books that were adopted into the Eswatini native language curriculum.
Dlamini mentioned that this was inspired by the station’s desire to turn the arts and entertainment as a vehicle to show people that it was possible to use this sector as a means of work.


She also stated that the series would be exclusive to the ‘sgujana’ set top boxes, which she said it was encouraging to see that the devices were flying off the shelves.


The synopsis for the telenovela is the journey of a woman, who has been married for a long time and has her husband living far away from her due to work.
Journey
After many years of not seeing her husband, the wife takes on a journey to remarry, this time around to a widowed pastor.
‘Emabulawo’ is set against the backdrop of Esitibeni, which is a community near the Nkoyoyo Royal Palace in Mbabane.


According to Eswatini TV Communications Officer Nompumelelo Dlamini, the programme already had 87 scripts written for the close to 50 cast members.
Although it was stated that the telenovela would, on its premiere, air once a week, the station would work on making it a daily soapie.
So far the schedule and official air date for the programme has not been shared as they were still filming.


The Head Writer, Modison Magagula, said as emaSwati they had the mandate to tell local stories and that it had always been disheartening to watch television and see Eswatini stories being told by people who were not from the country.
“We appreciate the efforts done by Eswatini TV to open a platform for local creatives to come up with such projects,” he said.


Transform


Mncedisi Mayisela, who is the Acting Chief Executive Officer at the station, commended the work done by the staff members to transform the station.
“We are trying to leverage on the advent of digital platforms such as broadcasting on the World Wide Web, on sites like YouTube,” remarked Mayisela.
Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (CEO) Stanley Dlamini said with the forum for the arts sector being small in Eswatini, they were excited that Eswatini TV was marketing local content, which was part of their mandate as a council.
“It is high time we watch local talent and it makes us proud to celebrate local talent and recognise neighbourhoods and landscapes on television.”

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