New Series Alert: Dlozi Love Connections With Thokoza Munt’wam Coming This October To Mzansi Magic

Have you ever wondered how ancestral callings and matters of the heart coexist? Well, Mzansi Magic is about to answer that for you in the most entertaining and dramatic way possible.

Stay glued to your screens, because come Wednesday 11 October at 8pm, we're serving you 13 episodes of Thokoza Munt’wam, a reality dating show that we are certain will be your new obsession.

Thokoza Munt’wam is not your usual reality show. We've got three couples here, each unique in their dynamics, challenges, and love languages. These couples are on the ultimate quest: to balance the spiritual and physical worlds. They are driven by love, but their unique spiritual journeys shape their relationships in ways most of us might never understand. The burning question is: can their love survive their ancestral callings?

Meet Our Couples:

1. Zukiswa Vutela and Macdonald Mailula known as Ndlovulati & Mcool Chuene: Think age is just a number? These two will give you a whole new perspective. From dealing with age differences and societal pressures to confronting personal and collective pasts – their story is nothing short of extraordinary.

2. Khanyisile Mnguni and Zanele Mnguni also known as Slay & Zee: Two women, both from Christian backgrounds, battling issues of identity, spirituality, and legacy. What does it mean to stand by your partner when their beliefs are in complete contrast to yours? Tune in to find out!

3. Kamogelo Sello and Sinoyolo Mbotshwa also known as Mercedes & Yolo: Ever been inboxed by your soulmate? Gogo Mercedes saw Yolo in a dream and reached out via Facebook. Their young love is loaded with unique challenges, but they're determined to navigate it all.

Why should you watch?

Because Thokoza Munt’wam is rewriting the narrative. While many shows might focus on the practice of ancestral calling, this one puts love centre stage. It’s the sweet, sometimes sour, love stories of the couples, with the twist of ancestral influences that make this a must-watch.

Here's what our couples have to say about their journey:

Slay and Zee: "I joined the show to break the binary thinking society has about spirituality. Especially in this generation," says Slay. While Zee cheekily adds, "I joined to support Slay in her rise to fame."

Ndlovulati & Mcool: "We joined to express ourselves as genuine healers. To show the true definition of healing and love."

Masedi & Yolo: "We chose to be a part of the show to grow and learn from challenges we face as a young influential couple. In this season, we show support over any other thing."

Don’t miss, Thokoza Munt’wam starting Wednesday 11 October, 8pm, only on DStv channel 161. And if you’re always on-the-go, catch it on DStv Stream and Catch Up.

Development Alert: A Rebroadcast Of 100 Days To Fall In Love And Prisoners Of Life Rollout On Telemundo Across Africa Ahead Of The Season 8 Premiere To Lord Of The Skies

Last month, it was reported that Lord Of The Skies would return for an eight season on Telemundo and this comes after primetime was temporarily halted due to a change in legislation. With Nurses reinstated on the channel and a brand new series Cennet: The Power Of Destiny slated for October.

Prior to their entry on Telemundo, the channel will be adding a rebroadcast of Prisoners Of Love and 100 Days To Fall In Love.

Prisoners Of Love tells the story of Inmate Yolanda who agrees to become the mistress of a famous drug dealer and lure him out of hiding in exchange for house arrest so she can protect her daughter. It starred Humberto Zurita, Ludwika Paleta and Michel Brown.

100 Days To Fall In Love follows two couples in struggling relationships decide to give each other another chance: 100 days for them to fall back in love. It starred Ilse Salas, Mariana Treviño, Erick Elías, and David Chocarro.

Prisoners Of Love airs daily at 23:00 from 2 October immediately after the premiere to Lord Of The Skies at 22:00 replacing the double bill of False Identity. 100 Days To Fall In Love will follow from 8 October at 20:00 replacing Operation Pacific.

New Series Alert: Nirvana In Fire Coming Soon To eExtra

eExtra, a South African based free-to-air network operated by eMedia Investments that is home to international dramas from Turkey, Asia and India has acquired broadcasting rights to the 2015 Chinese historic drama Nirvana In Fire starring Hu Ge and Liu Tao in lead roles.

In 6th-century China, there was a war between feudal Northern Wei and Southern Liang dynasties. The Liang commander general, Lin Xie, his son, Lin Shu, and the Chiyan Army defeated hostile Wei forces. However, when the Chiyan were weakened from the battle, they were massacred under the Emperor's orders.

The drama was a commercial and critical success, surpassing 100 million streaming views by its second day, and receiving a total number of views on iQiyi of over 3.3 billion by the end of the series. Nirvana in Fire was considered a social media phenomenon, generating 3.55 billion posts on Sina Weibo that praised its characters and story-line.

The drama was also one of the recipients of the Outstanding Television Drama Award at the Flying Apsaras Awards, the highest government honor given for outstanding achievement in the television industry. Kong Sheng also won the Outstanding Director Award for his work in Nirvana in Fire. 

Following its popularity, a sequel titled Nirvana In Fire II: The Wind Blows In Chang Lin was aired in 2017 with a third installment still in development. eExtra set to air the first instalment from Thursday 5 October replacing Goodbye My Princess every weekday at 16:15. 

In other developments, Roekeloos Dade returns to the channel from Wednesday 4 October for new episodes and a brand new series Wie Laaste Lag joins the lineup from Wednesday 18 October in place of Winter Son and Chrysalis respectively.

Recap To Last Year: MultiChoice And Ngwato Nkosi Group Are Slowly Replacing SABC And eMedia Investments On DStv

Since last year, MultiChoice had been having an on/off relationship with eMedia Investments regarding the carriage of their 4 Openview channels. Prior to that, negotiations for carriage fees to SABC 1-3 had reached a dead end with the brands also retained on DStv. 

Honestly speaking, MultiChoice seems to have built a contingency plan which sort of revolves around SABC and eMedia Investments. Take for instance, Zee Zonke which is basically eExtra in Zulu then there's lesser known films on both Movie Room and eMovies.

Hailing from Easyview, Magic Showcase which is somewhat similar to the SABC 1 is flooded with local programming if not old content. Now we have a multilingual eToonz channel from Ngwato Nkosi Group joining the circuit in the coming months, Play Room.

Ngwato Nkosi Group manage Newzroom Afrika and Movie Room and from what's already seen here they are basically building themselves up as the eMedia/SABC of DStv as each of their brands are tailored to their audience.

With the launch of Play Room consumers remain curious on the number of channels Ngwato Nkosi Group plan to rollout on the pay-tv platform. Considering the feedback of Newzroom Afrika and Movie Room, it wouldn't seem far fetched if more channels were underway.

Some concepts I've seen by the media include a telenovela channel dubbing content in local languages (Story Room), an M-Net/eSeries inspired channel (TV Room or Entertainment Room), sports channel (Sports Room) and a music channel (Music Room).

Other names that were also brought up which revolve on the above-mentioned include Action Room, Fight Room, Series Room, Lounge Room and Novela Room.

Although the timing of some channels don't correspond with each other, MultiChoice has been doing a lot of quality control in the past year e.g. Hilaal TV (ITV Networks), Qwest TV (MTV Hits) and Racing240 (Tellytrack).

Could SABC Education Alongside Further New Channels No Longer Be Moving Forward On DStv And StarSat?

For three years, consumers on pay-tv platforms have wondered if plans were still underway to get SABC Education alongside other channels from the public broadcaster such as SABC Sport and SABC Lehae to DStv and StarSat as these brands are currently exclusive to free-to-view platforms.

Prior to the pandemic, SABC had unveiled an educational channel and as mentioned they were looking to get it on more platforms. Now the question is whether that's still on the cards or similar to the duration of SABC News on DTT those plans had been halted.

In recent years, MultiChoice had limited the broadcast rights to select sporting content to their consumers while as SABC removed their local content from DStv's catch-up service leaving consumers to rely on SABC 1-3 or to stream further repeats on SABC+.

It wouldn't really some far fetched to some if SABC Education alongside other channels by the public broadcaster never got the time of day on DStv (and it possible StarSat). The public broadcaster had been looking to charge pay-tv platforms if not collect TV licence for their channels.

Although, SABC Sport and SABC Education aren't under must carry regulations as seen with SABC 1-3. They are operated by the same company which kind of jeopardize their position on the platforms.

Another issue a viewer had brought up was the trust deficit for these channels. As seen with SABC Encore and e.tv's 4 Openview channels each had a 5 year duration on DStv and if SABC Education or SABC Sport lasted much longer then you'd know it's a success with MultiChoice.