Durban Gen

Durban Gen is a South African medical drama telenovela. It is an e.tv original production produced by Stained Glass TV Production, commissioned and distributed by e.tv.^[1] The medical drama is based in Durban and reflects on the struggles of the doctors and nurses in their daily lives at Durban General Hospital.^[2]

As of August 5, 2021 the show moved to eVOD with repeats being broadcast on the channel.^[3]

Notable Cast[]

Production[]

On 21 August 2020, e.tv announced that the new local drama series would premiere on 5 October.

According to e.tv head of local productions Helga Palmar, the series comes at a time where there is heightened attention on frontline workers.

"We welcome Stained Glass T.V. to the eFamily and confidently look forward to the epic story of a modern-day locally produced drama. Following the immense success of our KZN late prime drama Imbewu, Durban Gen could not have come at a better time. Our viewers are eager to continue experiencing authentic stories that represent their everyday realities in a way that resonates with them".^[4]

Plot[]

The series centres around a newly qualified doctor, Mbali Mthethwa (Nelisiwe Sibiya), who moves to the big city to complete her final year of community service at Durban General Hospital. She is torn between her fiancé Sibusiso Dlamini (Ntando Mncube) and her superior Dr. Lindelani Zulu (). On arrival at the hospital she assists in a precarious surgery that results in the death of an MEC. This threatens the reputation of the hospital, Dr. Zulu and Mbali as they are thrown into an investigation which threatens to end Mbali's career before it even begins.^[5]

Cast[]

^[5]

Main Cast

• Nelisiwe Sibiya - Dr Mbali Mthethwa, a surgical intern. Mbali was engaged to Sibusiso Dlamini who is Dr. Thabo Dlamini's brother. Mbali finds herself in a continuous love triangle between Sibusiso and Dr. Lindelani, but is finally married with Sibusiso and is hiding that when they married she was no longer a virgin. She lost her virginity to Lindelani. Her husband Sibusiso was shot dead by a drunk Thabo he killed him by a mistake. He was really killed by Thulani Sibiya.
• Mavuso Magabane – Dr Thabo Dlamini, Chief of Surgery. He is married to Dr Precious Dlamini, but is a womaniser and has had extramarital sexual relations with a few of the nurses of the hospital. Thabo is a recovered alcoholic. He had a brief affair with Precious' friend, Zandile. He killed his brother.
• Duduzile Ngcobo – Dr Nomalanga Qwabe, Superintendent. Superintendent Qwabe is the boss of Durban General Hospital. She is feared but respected. She went to Cuba with her boyfriend Dr Ndlovu to possibly get a cure for her cancer. She appointed Dr Zulu as acting Superintendent in her absence.
• Mike Ndlangamandla – Dr. Lindelani Zulu, acting Superintendent and surgeon. Dr. Zulu is Mbali’s love interest. After dating for some time, Lindelani deflowered Mbali and proposed marriage to her. He is a father to his daughter, Lwandle. Lindelani’s wife died in a surgery, to which he blames Thabo as he was the doctor operating. Lindelani was in charge of the interns but when he became Superintendent, he handed over the intern duties to Dr. Zandile Mkhize.
• Lihle Dhlomo – Dr. Precious Dlamini, Head of OB/Ggynaecology. Precious is Thabo’s wife and is struggling to fall pregnant by her husband. Precious seems to not be happy with the state of her marriage, but stays anyway. She falls pregnant after sleeping with Calvin, but aborts the baby. She later continuously slept with Sibusiso so she could get a 'Dlamini' baby. She gave birth to Mvelo Dlamini.
• Ntando Mncube – Sibusiso Dlamini. Sibusiso is an ambitious businessman, who is Mbali’s fiance. He starts off being oblivious to Mbali’s cheating, but finds out eventually. He constantly is at odds with Lindelani, trying his best to make sure that he and Mbali do not continue dating. He is set on marrying Mbali and finally does. He tried killing Lindelani when he found out that he took Mbali's virginity. He was shot at the hospital when Thabo was told the truth about Mvelo being Sibusiso's child.
• Zimiphi Biyela – Matron Nobuhle Nkabinde, head nurse. The matron takes no nonsense from both staff and patients. She constantly checks the nurses’ uniforms, at which she always scolds Sne because her skirt is always too short. Some of the employees avoid her at times, especially when she wants to give out her baked treats, or wants to sell a product. She finds herself crushing on Dr. Ndlovu, who does not share the same feelings for her. She later had a brief relationship with MacGyver.
• Nombulelo Mhlongo – Nurse Sne Mtshali. Sne is the ‘slay queen’ of the hospital, she is always on top of what is trending on social media, and always knows what is happening in everyone’s lives. She is a very bubbly character. One of the running gags of the show is that Sne is always at odds with the matron because of her short skirts. She and Calvin have a close friendship. Sne is the love interest of MacGyver, with whom she has had a one night stand with.
• - Nurse Calvin Gumede. Calvin is the son of MaCele and Baba Gumede. Calvin is friends with Sne, MacGyver, and Phumeza. He had a one night stand with Precious which resulted in her falling pregnant. He was shot by Thabo when Zandile told Thabo that he slept with Precious but he remained alive.
• Fanele Ntuli – Dr. Thandekile Zondo, surgical intern. Thandekile is an intern who is friends with Mbali and Ndabezinhle. She usually acts as the voice of reason among her friends and aims to be a surgeon after her internship. She was in a brief relationship with Dr Ngcobo.
• Zuluboy – MacGyver, paramedic. MacGyver is a good-natured person who sometimes can be dimwitted. He works closely with Baba Gumede as a paramedic. His love interest is Sne, who constantly rejects him. He is usually caught on the wrong side of his get-rich-quick ideas.
• - Nurse Phumeza Sibiya. Phumeza is a caring, soft-spoken, and well-mannered character. Her ability to tend to patients, as well as her overall diligence makes her the matron’s favourite nurse. She does tend to lack social skills as well as street smarts. She is married to Detective Sibiya.
• – Bab' Milton Gumede. Baba Gumede is MaCele’s husband and Calvin’s father. He is young at heart. He usually is involved in MacGyver’s antics. Gumede tends to also lend an ear to anyone, especially the male staff members, who is going through something personal and is willing to offer them advice. He is revealed to be Msizi's father. When his wife MaCele found out that he used their savings to pay his former mistress, she had a heart attack and died.
• Sthandwa Nzuza - Dr Zandile Mkhize. She is Precious's friend and she was married to Dr Siyabonga Mkhize but they got divorced because Zandile did illegal abortions and she aborted their child. Precious told her all her secrets and she was blackmailing Sibusiso because she wanted money and Precious kidnapped her and drugged her because she did not want her to tell thabo the truth about Mvelo but she escaped and told Thabo the truth about Mvelo and Precious and Calvin's affair and a heartbroken Thabo shoots Calvin and is now plotting for revenge to all those people who made a fool of him.

References[]