Last night South Africans viewers saw the last appearance of the Rhythm City character, S'fiso Ngema, who will tragically die in exactly the same real-life hijacking attempt that befell the actor Dumi Masilela in the e.tv weekday soap.
"We will be alright," sang Dumi Masilela behind the mic in the closing scene of Wednesday's episode after which the credits rolled - the last that viewers will see of S'fiso.
Over the next few days Rhythm City characters will suddenly get the awful news that S'fiso was gunned down in a horrific hijacking attempt and is dead.
This will be followed by a special episode next week Wednesday, 18 October that incorporates an on-screen memorial episode, with the actor's mom Sabatha Magdeline and his brother Thabani Masilela who will make special appearances.
Wednesday's episode follows two months after the shock death of Dumi Masilela in an attempted hijacking on 2 August in Tembisa that brought production on the Quizzical Pictures produced soap to a standstil as cast and crew underwent psychological counselling.
To tell S'fiso's exit story, the producers got the family's permission to "re-enact" the abrupt and shocking way that Dumi Masilela died in real-life, with the exit of Sifiso Ngema mirroring what happened to the actor to help focus attention on the scourge of violent crime in South Africa.
Rhythm City said in September that the character of S'fiso Ngema will leave the e.tv soap in the way that Dumi Masilela was murdered, although an actual recreation of the hijacking won't be shown in the soap.
"After extensive consultation with the Masilela family, the producers of Rhythm City have decided to incorporate Dumi Masilela's tragic death into the exit storyline of his character, S'fiso, to highlight the scourge of violence that is sadly so prevalent in South Africa," said the soap that recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
"The show's producers decided to use Sifiso's exit story as a way to pay tribute to Dumi's work as an actor and to highlight the tragedy of unnecessary violence that plagues our cities," says Rhythm City producer Yula Quinn.
