Family lessons from The Ranakas Season 5

There’s no drama like Ranaka drama – but maybe if we learn from their mistakes, we’ll pick up their fabulousness along the way?

“As a family we have done what most wouldn’t. We’ve committed ourselves, over the last four seasons, to living our lives openly on camera for all to see, judge, critique, and pick at – but also to (hopefully) learn from,” Dineo Ranaka tells the camera in the introduction of her diary session of local reality series The Ranakas Season 5. (All five seasons are available to binge-watch on Showmax.)

The show started as a spin-off from Dineo’s earlier reality series, Dineo’s Diary (S1-5 also on Showmax), in which the Ranaka family captured South Africa’s hearts. So Manaka, Mpumi, Thando, Katlego, Dineo, Mzingisi, Michelle, Ranaka, and Mr and Mrs Ranaka went on to give Mzansi viewers a front-row seat for their lives. Many viewers gravitated to the show because of how honest the family is, and how well it represents what contemporary South African families look like. In fact, they’re so relatable that they’re making it easy for us to learn from them!

While some members of the family like Dineo bring an element of aspirational glamour, on the whole the family is raw and unscripted as they put the “real” back into reality TV. They really go there as they have uncomfortable family conversations, face childhood generational traumas, and define the concept of healing and celebrating their differences, their boldness and their blackness as a family.

This season will focus on media mogul Dineo’s journey to becoming a traditional healer and how her family, particularly her mother, Mma Masiba, supported her. In episode 10 we’ll see one way in which the family has grown, as Mpumi speaks up about how little support she felt from Mma Masiba as she pursued her own calling. Mma Masiba has always been open about the fact that in her practice of Christianity, she does not believe in cultural spiritual healers.

The season will also see Manaka and Dineo deal with their long-standing issues with one another, Katlego gets back into the dating field with a blind date and she celebrates her 21st birthday. And Michelle becomes a Ranaka makoti. And just wait and see who’s getting mother-daughter tattoos!

Meanwhile, here are five Ranaka lessons from Season 5.

Episode 1: Age is nothing but a number

Thando and Katlego host a family game night to boost togetherness, but Dineo and Manaka end up getting into a drunk, emotional argument. While Thando and Katlego are nominally the “babies” of the family, viewers can learn that age is nothing but a number.

Even as a young person, you can be the one who brings your loved ones together and encourages reconciliation.

Episode 1: Parenting

Mpumi speaks about how she parents from an “eagle’s eye view” and she insists that no one has a right to judge her style of parenting until they walk in her shoes. This is an essential statement at a time during which we have so much access to each other’s lives, because comparison is often the first big mistake.

Seeing Mpumi and Thando’s relationship grow throughout the season – like Thando getting more freedom – is a beautiful lesson for our own families.

Episode 1: It is okay for me to cry too

Ranaka patriarch Mr Ranaka has never been afraid of showing emotion on the show and in this episode we see him cry in one of his diary sessions as he remembers his abusive stepfather and the humiliating cruelties of the apartheid system.

Seeing a black man who is a leader in his family be vulnerable – especially in a country where men crack down on each other’s expression of emotions (aside from anger) as if emotions undermine masculinity – is a beautiful teaching by example for young men.

Episode 1: The power of matriarchs

During the family game night, Manaka and Dineo argue about having kids with different fathers. The Ranaka women are unafraid to stand up for themselves and what they believe in.

Strong-willed matriarchs are respected, and everyone is allowed a voice. Even within their drama, they encourage young women to speak for themselves.

Episode 5: Understanding our own culture

Mr Ranaka shares his knowledge about the Ranakas’ culture at one of the family gatherings. He calls on a family member and passes a baton in the Majaditlhogo (uncle) ceremony.

Viewers will watch this and be reminded of the importance of understanding our own cultures and making sure that they live on through generations to come.