With a multi-million rand production budget – MultiChoice’s largest local TV show on DStv yet – the epic drama series Shaka iLembe on Mzansi Magic “was so big it scared us,” says Nomsa Philiso.
As CEO of MultiChoice’s general entertainment division, Nomsa Philiso, a veteran South African TV executive, is well-versed in the numerous intricacies and daily logistical challenges, myriad problems, crises and constant problem-solving required in the mercurial world of making television.
The audacious 12-episode series from Bomb Productions – chronicling the historical rise of Zulu king Shaka – however, presented a unique new production challenge in terms of money, scope, ambition, production value spectacle and sheer size to MultiChoice, M-Net and Bomb Productions, the likes of which South Africa’s TV biz and the Randburg-based pay-TV operator haven’t attempted to scale before.
“The biggest thing was the intention – which was to get it right,” Philiso tells News24.
“We wanted to land it right and in terms of how we tell it. When you tell a story which is everybody’s story, there are conflicting narratives. The pressure on the team was really to try and get it as accurate as possible.”
“We understand that we’re doing a drama series, but it is subject matter that is so important to so many people that the biggest pressure point was: Do we have enough and as much correct information as possible to base this on? Which is why we leaned a lot on the academics and historical consultants and the people from the different generations.”
“To put all of that together and then to say, ‘This is the direction we’re going’, was the trick,” she says.
Shaka iLembe, plotted out to run for three seasons, is busy with production on the second season while South Africans are watching the episodes of the first season unspool on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) on Sunday nights, showing the start of Shaka’s origin story.
While the second season will revolve around the adult Shaka unifying and eventually creating the Zulu nation through his shrewd battle and warrior strategies, the third season will culminate in his murder but also his legacy – the growth of the Zulu nation across what is today KwaZulu-Natal.
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‘How big do we go?’
While MultiChoice isn’t willing to divulge the amount that was invested into bringing the warrior saga to screen, which employed a cast and crew of thousands of people, Philiso says, “The bigger the production, the bigger the budget; the more complexities you have in terms of the labour that actually comes into the picture”.
“We knew it was a big story. So the question was: How big do we go? We could have done a slapdash of a Sunday drama, but we really wanted to be true to it. That was the thing: It’s not a small story. Which is why the way we are telling Shaka iLembe is across three seasons.”
“The first season is almost a ‘prequel’ of sorts,” she says. “Shaka belongs to a community which gave rise to him. So we don’t just want to see him as an adult at the point of fighting and conquering. The more we peeled back the layers, the more we realised just how big of an undertaking Shaka iLembe would be. It was big enough to scare us as well.”
“For me, I feel that if there was ever a doubt about the ability of MultiChoice and M-Net and South Africa’s TV production industry to be able to mount something of this scale, that doubt has really been put to rest,” Philiso notes.
“A lot of international companies come here, and they take our labour as a dry hire, for instance, Cape Town, but Shaka iLembe was all of us – doing it ourselves. It asserts our position that South Africa’s TV industry is a very skilled industry, as well as a very capable industry, and it also asserts MultiChoice’s ambition to be the biggest storyteller in Africa.”
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Shaka’s triumph
Regarding the casting – with Shaka iLembe boasting the who’s who of South Africa’s thespian fraternity – Philiso says there were, at least initially, some trepidation about perhaps populating the series with too many famous faces.
“There was a time when we were feeling ‘are these faces perhaps not too familiar? Everybody’s in there.’ Keep in mind that we were finalising the Shaka iLembe casting just as The Wife on Showmax was becoming this big thing.”
“Some thought, ‘Oef, there are too many of these people’. So the casting is where my viewpoint was one of, ‘These people are liked’. They were becoming part of the MultiChoice brand.”
“What I’ve learnt is that it is actually possible to have a project where everybody … the leadership from Desireé Markgraaff [managing director at Bomb Productions and co-executive producer of Shaka iLembe] and Angus Gibson [Bomb Productions director and series director] has been astonishing”.
“They got everybody to march in the same direction. It was not the easiest of times because we decided to film in winter – which turned out to be one of the rainiest and wettest in a long time. It was a difficult thing. And remember, it was just a year after coming back out of the lockdown from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Mkabayi played by Dawn Thandeka King in Shaka iLembe.
Queen Ntombazi played by Khabonina Qubeka in Shaka iLembe.
Godongwana played by Thembinkosi Mthembu in Shaka iLembe.
Mawewe played by Wanda Zuma and King Jobe played by Hamilton Dhlamini in Shaka iLembe.
“I expected people to be jittery. But the power of the mind – to have a singular focus has been the thing that stood out for me. Even here at MultiChoice. The way that we’ve approached the marketing and the messaging – it shows that everybody has been charging to the same goalpost.”
“We said: ‘We’re going to do one thing, and we’re going to do it right. The leadership of Desireé and Angus has been truly astonishing. And of course, MultiChoice’s leadership because at the time when we thought these numbers have too many zeros, we can’t do it, they said: Do it.”
“We asked: Really? And they said do it. That was the scariest time because we thought that it would never happen – not that amount of money with no other investors and other co-financiers. Everybody that gave a tick believed in it, every single one along the way.”
“What surprised me was just how much … I think it’s the dedication of everybody,” says Philiso.
“You expect it – but when you see the extent, it’s always so impressive. Everybody who worked on Shaka iLembe as a project wanted to be on that project. There were no loafers. Everybody put their hearts and minds to it. The dedication for me just showed me that it is possible.”
For Philiso, Shaka iLembe’s triumph is MultiChoice and M-Net’s triumph.
“What makes me happy about Shaka iLembe is that we achieved what we set out to do. We set out to tell an African story, by us, for us, and we achieved that. It’s just a reaffirmation that our stories matter. Our stories are just as important.”
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Shaka iLembe airs Sundays at 20:00 on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) and is also available on DStv Catch-Up and via the DStv app.