The Wife (2022) Telenovela Review on GBV

Those of us who identify with the character of Mqhele (Bonko Khoza) from the renowned telenovela, The Wife (2022) do not only do so because of his dashing looks. We identify with him because we are also perpetrators of violence the same way we witnessed it as children. Bonko Khoza's talent is so dynamic and relatable in whatever show he is featured in. His followers will remember him from the astounding film, Necktie Youth (Sibs Lamer, 2012, its review also featured in this blogspot) where his character also took on as a depressed rich kid from Sandton who ended up taking his own life after battling with depression for so long. I must say, his acting is very in touch with the ugly dimensions of society that we rather keep to ourselves. I wonder how his sensitive is as as a person.

In The Wife, Mqhele is presented as a sensitive, charming and a beautiful Zulu man who is willing to treat a woman right. Surrounded by the glory of his brothers, he is a taxi driver by the day and a cash in transit robber by the night. Further, he is faced with an internal conflict which continuously drives him into being a beast of a man because of the tormenting horror he saw as a young boy of a tender age. He relives the memory of seeing his mother being slaughtered like a cow by the angry residents of Mbuba. Unfortunately, he has a tendency of beating up his wife for mere insecurities which are justified by his upbringing. He even confesses that his violent self is a result of the horrific trauma of seeing his mother being headed. The writers of this series try and give an alternative view point, using his brother 'Qhawe (Kwenzo Ngcobo) who was also witness to his father's brutal murder, as he says, he saw how they slaughtered his father like an animal but that he isnt violent because of it. Regardless of the justice the series is trying to bring with this alternative narrative, however, it does little to trace or even confront why males in this country are rooted in crimes of gender based violence. Week in and week out, we hear of a man who has either chopped his girlfriend into pieces or a man who shot down a woman he was in love with. Never do we enquire into the root cause of all these viles.

Mqhele is a representative of gender based violence in South Africa. The series is sparking a debate on that. Nevertheless, Mqhele is us. It is not only men in this country that are behind gbv. However, since we are already vulnerable as women, it is not easy to say that a number of women also carry various numbers of childhood traumas which they exert to children. I suppose, it is only once they are grown that we can trace the damage done to them.

As Mqhele refuses therapy, the further the trauma is contained and the more the victim endures it. We see her wife getting accustomed to it, little by little. What is important to note about trauma is that, no matter the amount of regrets a perpetrator expresses to its victims, the abuse is bound to take place again and each time with a little bit of an escalation. After all, the animal wakes and it takes pleasure in the beating because that is the only time the beast is expressed: in passionate aggressive sex and in a merciless beating. Since it has no words or expression afforded, it then opts to manifests itself in violence.

The brilliance in this telenovela lies in how they significantly touch its audiences by bringing issues that would otherwise be left in the bedroom. Since it is still ongoing, it is a wonder whether Mqhele will become a better version of himself or succumb to his past. Nonetheless, he is no different than any of us who are still battling with aggressive pictures of our past.