Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
Newly licensed television station, KeYona TV is working on a new soap opera titled Thekwane that will be set in Plumtree, Bulilima, Tsholotsho and Botswana.
The soapie, a brainchild of budding producer Noreen Moyo will be a partnership between Sky Media and Amakhosi Studios exclusively for KeYona TV. Auditions are to be conducted in due course.
Thekwane, refers to a bird that connotes good fortune and in this soapie, audiences will get to meet a character that is symbolised by the bird’s behaviour.
Moyo said she is eager to work with seasoned people in the industry.
“It’s exciting to be exposed to so much learning and meeting new people with expertise in the production industry,” said Moyo.
Hailing from Bulawayo, Moyo, a final year Journalism and Media Studies student at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) said it was during her secondary level studies at Thekwane High School that she got curious about the Kalanga people’s way of life.
When she relocated to Tsholotsho High School, her skills were groomed by the school’s drama club director. From there, her love for film grew and she ultimately chose to study Journalism and Media studies to nurture her passion.
She said what inspires her to write is the need to share her curiosity and imagination of the world through creative writing.
“Writing feeds my curiosity and it’s therapeutic to me. I’ve realised that when I write, I become relaxed. The joy I get from writing is incomparable as my analytical observations give me content that I can share with the world around me,” said Moyo.
According to a statement by Sky Media publicist Noxolo K Sibanda, Thekwane pays heightened attention to the heart of Plumtree where the most recognisable shopping centre is found.
Sibanda said the soap opera will be in Kalanga, isiNdebele and Setswana languages.
“It is with pride of KeYona TV to bring a proudly Zimbabwean local soap opera veined in Kalanga, IsiNdebele and Setswana languages. It’s named after the popular bird in the area that approximates the coming of the rains.
“Juxtaposed against the significance of seeing the bird Thekwane, the pulse of the soap seeks to capture a new storyline with an existent trail of how people can go to any extent to survive and balancing it all with the repercussions that come with it in the future.
The story will be set in Plumtree, Bulilima, Tsholotsho South, Mangwe and Botswana’s Francistown region,” said Sibanda.
Online Reporter