The River when it first premiered being premised on a female mining mogul with the ruthless streak who kills her own daughter to protect her wealth after killing her daughter’s adoptive father for a rough diamond. The Tshedza Films original telenovela set the bar really high as more and more soapies and new telenovelas began to saturate television viewing in South Africa.
Read more: Hlomla Dandala Comes For Cassper
But season five of The River has not been well received. This time it is not due to the stellar cast of the telenovela that is the reason for contention. Instead, it is the writing and overall production team which has been called out for the most disappointing season to date of the Mzansi 1Magic flagship show.
When season five kicked off, it kicked off with a bang. This is as the opening sequence of the season was a flashforward. In the flashforward, we see Nomonde and Mabutho get married. During the wedding celebrations, Police Commissioner Zweli Dikana finds out that Mabutho is implicated in an undisclosed crime and Zweli has to arrest him.
But instead, Mabutho during the confrontation with his father in-law in the bathroom of the wedding venue, Mabutho pushes Zweli and he hit his head against the sink. The last moments of the flash-forward is Nomonde knocking on the door, Mabutho panicking and Zweli bleeding profusely on the floor.
The flash-forward was a shocker, with the big question being whether or not Zweli will survive this ordeal.
A question which has been answered prematurely via social media.
A question which has been answered prematurely via social media.
Hlomla Dandala leaves The River
On Saturday, 15 October 2022, a tweep took to Twitter to share a post from the beloved actor who plays National Police Commissioner Zweli Dikana, real name Hlomla Dandala. Lifted from his Instagram, it seemed to suggest that Dandala had just wrapped his last day on the set of The River and was bidding farewell to the remaining cast and crew.
With the news now confirmed, tweeps were quick to take to the blue app. First, they highlighted the obvious in terms of Dandala leaving. Indicating that the flash-forward was indication of his imminent departure. With the major concern being how Sindi Dlathu as Lindiwe Dlamini-Dikana is meant to deal with the loss of her uLala.
Other posts went to speculate about Dandala’s decision to leave the telenovela after debuting with the premiere episode back in season one. Overall, the speculation leaned towards the suggestion that similar to the rest of the country who are bored with the current season, Dandala was also aware of just how boring The River is now and he was jumping ship before it falls into further disrepute.
This is as The River has already been confirmed for a sixth season. A season which fans are waiting for with bated breath as we can only imagine the acting the Dlathu will bring. But more especially as the new season will either continue the decline in popularity of The River or revive its once stellar record and reviews.
Image credit: Instagram