Mzansi Magic is giving viewers a peek into the lives and minds of teenagers with the premiere of its latest drama series, Obstruction, airing on Monday 18 March.
Zenokuhle (Luyanda Zuma) is a 17-year-old high schooler and Netball Superstar with dreams of making her mark and getting picked to play for the Gauteng Provincial Netball Team. However, getting there does not seem like it will be easy as she contends with challenges she has to tackle head-on.
Through Zeno’s story, Obstruction will put on the lenses of an extremely talented black female teenager and how she and her peers navigate relationships with their parents, teachers, love interests, enemies, and frenemies.
The premiere episode introduces Zano and her mother Thandiwe (Bukamina Cebekhulu), whom she feels is the only enemy of progress in her life and does not understand her netball needs. This is proven right when Thandiwe decides to uproot their lives and transfer her to a new school, in a new neighbourhood where she needs to start anew. Moreover, she has to prove her skills by trying to lead a not-so-great team to the Netball finals.
Unbeknownst to Zeno, the true impediment to fulfilling her dreams is her charming, lovable father whom she doesn’t know has a serious gambling addiction that has led her mother to break her back, covering up for him out of love for her daughter. She also has to face off with new schoolmates, some of whom are not exactly thrilled by her presence plus a love interest set to shake her world even more.
“This is a story of a lot of young people in our society nowadays – faced with the pressure to succeed, to be liked by peers, to have an emotionally stable family life, and also nail it in the relationship department,” says Shirley Adonisi, M-Net’s Director for Local Entertainment Channels. “We hope that stories like this one, that we tell on Mzansi Magic, will not only entertain but also shine a spotlight on pertinent themes that many teenagers deal with daily,” says Adonisi.
The cast of Obstruction includes Menzi Biyela who plays Zeno’s father Mandla, Lerato Mokoka (Gomora) featuring as Zeno’s ‘frenemy’ Ora, Nhlanhla Kunene (The River, Adulting) and Thembsie Matu (The Queen).
Tune in to Obstruction from Monday 18 March at 20:00 on Mzansi Magic channel 161, and see whether a Mother’s love can be strong enough to transform a teenager’s self-perceptions and values, thereby changing the course of her future.
