The River Always Ends In Tears And Here Is Why

The River was created by two people; Phathu Makwarela and Gwydion who own Tshedza Pictures, but fans are always attacking Makwarela when things go south because Makwarela is accessible to fans and vocal on social media and his partner isn’t.

The reason The River storylines always end in tears is that Makwarela apparently thrives in emotionally manipulating audiences, he believes that’s what sells, even if they are always complaining.

Makwarela apparently grew up in harsh conditions in Limpopo and knows all about struggling for things and what it does to the human spirit. He apparently loves unpredictability in his scripts and fears failure, unlike his partner. If things are smooth sailing on The River all the time, ratings will drop and the awards will disappear…he’s a perfectionist.

In previous interviews, Makwarela mentioned that he wanted to give viewers relief from their everyday stresses but has now changed that narrative and wants his shows to give them stress. He wants to be talked about and get viewers to come back the next day.

He became interested in storytelling after observing ordinary people and seeing what makes them tick. He gained experience from his years of writing for other shows such as; Uzalo, Skeem Saam, Muvhango and The Queen. His rationale was that if somebody is finally sitting down in the evening after a long stressful day, it’s better to put a smile on their face than make them feel miserable.

His characters on The River in Refilwe (fictional township) die or suffer after every celebration. For example, Kabzela’s success was followed by tears and Morena Mokoena was stabbed yesterday during his celebration. Then there was Rakgadi who lost Nsizwa to cancer.

There will never be success emerging from the dusty township of Refilwe without tears. The storylines will always end in violence or death and viewers must just accept.