The Masked Singer South Africa’s “No. 1 Lady Detective”, Sithelo Shozi, was the only appointed investigator who could suss out who set the stage alight disguised as a sassy Sunflower. Sithelo called out the multiple-award-winning hitmaker and trendsetting “African Queen”, Makhadzi.
Sithelo’s fellow squad member, Somizi Mhlongo, nearly hit the nail on the head but changed his mind to Zahara just before the big reveal. Comedian Moshe Ndidi, standing in for J’Something, who was on a personal out-of-town mission, also assumed that Sunflower was Zahara. However, “sergeant” Skumba Mhlope stuck to his guns with Mercy Pakela, the name he had provided since the feisty flower’s first performance on the show.
With only eight masked singers still in the game, Sunflower, Fox, Lion and Lollipop strutted their stuff this week. In the next episode, it will be Doughnut, Rhino, Tree and Elephant’s turn to gain the popular vote and maintain their anonymity.
After Sunflower – and the show’s crazy “Men in Black” – shared more obscure clues about her background in a pre-recorded insert, she performed “Destiny” by Malaika.
As one should do in this phase of the competition, the three recurrent detectives analysed all the clues from Sunflower’s previous stints alongside her latest revelations.
Limpopo, taxis, being a child star, and money issues remained the primary evidence collected in Sunflower’s case.
For Somizi, these pointers all “smelled like Makhadzi”.
Sithelo was initially derailed by Sunflower’s deep, rounded voice, leading her to Hlubi Mboya. Then, the licence plate and soundtrack in the most recent clue package prompted Sithelo to gauge that it was either Sho Madjozi or Makhadzi.
So, Sithelo delved deeper into her knowledge bank, weighing up the suspects. Makhadzi started her career at the age of 13, sang and danced at taxi ranks, and revealed that she likes helping people. Suddenly, all the clues made sense.
In a previous episode, the panel dissed J’Something when he guessed Sunflower’s voice might belong to a guy. Still, Skhumba toyed with the same idea this week but also considered Khanyi Mbau before reverting to his first guess of the season, Mercy Pakela.
On his first day at the job, Moshe interpreted Sunflower’s caring nature as “healing through song”, which would describe Winnie Mashaba, a gospel artist from Limpopo.
But then the “Men in Black” unexpectedly delivered fan mail with a tip-off to Sithelo. The fan divulged that Sunflower was “loved by the people of the sky blue and white flag.”
Sunflower explained the information received: “I am an African; I own my being to the hills and the valleys.” With these words, Moshe changed his mind to the country girl, Zahara.
When it was time to announce the voting results, Sunflower wilted. She even cried. But before she had to drop her mask, Somizi joined Moshe, locking in Zahara as their final guess.
The unmasked Makhadzi loved how she fooled Somizi. It was also great fun for her to move out of her comfort zone. Instead of singing her own songs, she had to do covers. “I challenged myself as an artist to see how far I could go,” she said.
The Masked Singer South Africa is screened on SABC 3 on Saturdays at 18:30 and SABC 1 at 20:00. There is also a repeat on SABC 1 on Thursdays at 21:00.
Follow South Africa’s favourite guessing game on Twitter – #MaskedSingerSA.