It’s Saturday morning. Thembi and her mom are at a well-known sangoma’s house. Mr Pungo is also known as ‘The Illusionist’. He is known for killing people with lightning, making others fall pregnant, gets promotions or wealth. And if any of his clients rat him out, then he makes sure that they never live to tell the tale.

Mrs Mavundla is there to ask the sangoma for a love potion she wants which will make Mr Dlamini fall in love with her and marry her. The sangoma decides to mix a love potion for Thembi’s mom and gives it to her. The potion is red and in a small, clean bottle. Mrs Mavundla takes it and leaves the money on the sangoma’s mat then she gets up with Thembi ready to leave. Just as she’s about to open the door, the sangoma warns her about the consequences of the potion should she misuse it.

On their way back home, Thembi looks a bit worried.

“Mom, are you really going to poison Mr Dlamini? And how are you going to do that?”

Mrs Mavundla looks at her daughter with a great smile and pride on her face.

“Well, you shall see, leave everything to me, just act normal around ThandI,” explains Mrs Mavundla. Just then Mrs Mavundla sees Thandi’s dad sitting on the veranda reading the newspaper. “Go home Thembi, I need to speak to Mr Dlamini,” she says seeing her window of opportunity.

“Hello Mr Dlamini,” Mrs Mavundla greets politely. “Where are your wife and daughter if you’re out here alone?” She adds.

“Hello Mrs Mavundla. They went to the supermarket but should be back shortly,” Mr Dlamini replies.

“Do you mind giving me something to drink, a cool drink maybe, the heat has been too harsh on me,” Mrs Mavundla asks even more politely.

Mr Dlamini then invites her into the house but she quickly offers to fetch the cool drink herself, saying that it’s a women’s job to help herself.

“The kitchen is straight through, get me one too please,” he says as Mrs Mavundla walks to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, she opens the fridge and takes out two cans of cola. She opens the one and pours the small bottle of red liquid into it. Mrs Mavundla then carries both cans outside and hands Mr Dlamini the open one. She watches him closely as he takes a sip.

Mrs Dlamini doesn’t return as quickly as Mrs Mavundla thought she would. After they finish their cool drinks, Mr Dlamini invites Mrs Mavundla to his bedroom. Mrs Mavundla knows then that the muti is working and follows Mr Dlamini to his bedroom.

A month later, Mr Dlamini marries Mrs Mavundla as his second wife. This marks the end of all peace in the Dlamini household. The two wives are constantly fighting for almost everything, and the girls both want their father’s attention. If other is bought something new, then the other one wants it too. This means the end of Thembi and Thandi’s friendship too.

On Saturday afternoon, while MaKhumalo (Thandi’s mom) is outside hanging the laundry; Thandi is doing her homework in the lounge while her father is reading his newspaper. Mrs Mavundla prepares dinner while Thembi keeps herself busy in her bedroom. She decides to pour the rest of the remaining potion onto Thandi’s portion after she dishes dinner. This would only leave MaKhumalo to take care of, she thinks. She then places Mr Dlamini and Thandi’s food on the table in the lounge and goes to call Thembi for dinner.

When she came back with Thembi in tow, Mr Dlamini is on the floor suffering from some sort of seizure. He has eaten from the plate that was meant for Thandi. Hearing the commotion and Thandi’s screams in the house, MaKhumalo rushes into the house.

She finds her husband dead on the floor.

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Tell us what you think: What do you think of what Thembi’s mom did? Was Thembi’s friendship with Thandi ever real?