February 3, 2004
By Philippa Garson
JOBURG's where it's happening for Zero Tolerance, the new homegrown television detective series, which sees an elite Scorpions-style unit tackle crime in its myriad forms.
Whether it's a farm murder in the Free State or a muti killing in Limpopo, it's all shot in and around Joburg, says Sara Blecher, co-creator (with her mother Hilary) of the series in which Denzela Ledwaba (Moshidi Motshegwa) and her colleagues try to crack the country's most challenging crime cases.
Things are rather frenetic this week in the vast warehouse complex in town where the Zero Tolerance team is based, with shooting for the second series about to begin. The many disused buildings in the vicinity, leased from Telkom, offer the perfect location for most of the filming. Which is just as well, says Sara, because budgetary constraints dictate that the crew can't stray too far.
Sakkie (Ben Kruger)
"What's been extraordinary is the many different locations in Joburg we've found that are not always known to the average person," adds Hilary. There are so many exciting environments - from Muslims living in Fordsburg, to communities in Soweto, to the upmarket suburbs. The density, the variety of different cultures and socio-economic groups living in Joburg is amazing," she says. "We've tried to capture this richness and introduce these textures into our work."
Joburg's balmy weather has been another blessing for the crew. While some have cursed the lack of rain, in four whole months of shooting not one day was lost to bad weather.
From where the offices of Zero Tolerance are situated, opening shots of central Johannesburg and of the mine dumps are virtually on their doorstep. And the crew has had no problem accessing some of the city's most interesting - if not the most savoury - locations, such as the police morgue and Leeuwkop Prison. "What we're looking for is the raw, gritty feel of these places," says Sara.
This is because Zero Tolerance is striving for some realism: although typical of the detective series genre in that each episode ending sees the miraculous solving of the crime, the series nevertheless focuses on crimes with a contemporary socio-political feel and attempts to portray the people trying to solve them as real and complex, like heroine Denzela and her "old order" police partner Sakkie (Ben Kruger), who must battle through the angst of their personal lives and the uncomfortable politics of transition along the way.
Denzela's daily struggle to be both a top cop and a good mother to her son in the face of a crumbling marriage is very credible, as is Sakkie's bitterness in working for the very people - the former exiles and members of Umkhonto we Sizwe - he was once pitted against.
Zero Tolerance investigates crimes that are both authentic and current, such as prison gangs, Al Qaeda and the goings-on in South Africa's oversubscribed private security industry. Several of the series' writers, such as Jonny Steinberg, Mark Gevisser and Sara herself, have worked as journalists and much of the subject matter is drawn from their own experiences in the field.
"We haven't felt censored in any way. The series really does look at issues of transformation and inter-racial dynamics in an honest way," says Sara. The team is a mixed bag - men and women, black, white, Indian … reflecting South Africa's own diversity. The initially hostile, charged relationship between Denzela and Sakkie develops into a friendship of sorts as their edgy adventures draw them closer together.
"Denzela is not trying to toe a government line or be politically correct," says Sara. "She is the moral beacon - in each episode as she grapples with her own moral dilemma, whether it's about getting a conviction for an ordinary criminal who is simply a pawn in a much larger game or whether it's about her own husband's infidelity. And we've tried to make her do the right thing."
Says Hilary: "We're trying to paint a portrait of crime in the country. Essentially the message is an anti-crime one. While other detective series like Homicide just deal with the mechanics of crime we're attempting to explore the dilemmas and moral issues that surround it."
The series, which airs on Thursday nights at 7.30 pm on SABC 2, also features Patrick Shai as Enoch Molope, assistant director of prosecutions who must report to the president; Tony Kgoroge as Vuyo Dlamini, an arrogant township-boy-made-good out to solve the world's problems; and Ragesh Gopie as Raks Naidoo, a cynical young prosecutor who is Denzela's team leader.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
