It’s payback time on Wang’kolota Season 2

Over two seasons of reality series Wang’Kolota (I Owe You), family therapist and actor-producer Kagiso Modupe has gone all out to reunite people whose kindness have been abused, with the money or property they lent to a lover, family member or friend. And where there is no danger of abuse, he has worked to reconcile people who’ve shattered a relationship by not paying back a debt. 

Wang’Kolota is painfully educational and in the brand-new season, they show us more reasons that you should never lend out anything you’re not willing or able to also give as a gift if the worst happens. Let’s just say that you need to assume that all dogs could bite …

Patricia and Phillip

Some people are bad with money because life is unpredictable, some are caretakers who’re stretched thin by their commitments, and some are well-intentioned, but careless. But there’s another type we often don’t expect until we are deep into a business or personal relationship with them – that’s the selfish someone who feels entitled. 

Patricia lent Phillip R100 000 for his business while they were in a four-year relationship. But when the relationship turned toxic and she moved out, she wanted her money back. 

Philip seemed to feel that once Patricia’s money was in his hands, though, it belonged to him. He hid important financial details from her, he lied, and he claimed to have no way of paying her back, despite driving a fancy truck and owning several properties. 

And even though at one point he had R20 000 of her money in his account, she had to beg him for petrol money, money for food for her children, and money for their school fees. Wang’Kolota’s investigators turned up several other people who were owed money by Phillip, too. It was only when Kagiso told Phillip to his face that they’d be sending a Sheriff of the Court to claim his properties on Patricia’s behalf that Phillip begrudgingly agreed to pay back most of the money Patricia had lent him. 

This episode is a classic Wang’kolota tale that brings up the five major bad bets that lead to bad debts:

You lend serious money, but they’re not serious about paperwork: Even though Patricia meant the money to be an investment in Phillip’s business, this was not formalised by having her name on the deal he was making with her money. In fact, she was the major investor, putting more money into the deal than Phillip did.

And if it was really an investment in their future as a couple as he claimed, then they needed to approach it hand-in-hand, every step of the way. Instead, Phillip deliberately kept Patricia in the dark about what was happening with the deal and she had no way of checking its status. Patricia and Phillip also did not clearly sign an agreement about the conditions of the loan, how repayment would work, or what would happen with Patricia’s money and her children if anything happened to her. 

You give into emotional blackmail: When Patricia was hesitant about lending Phillip money, he insinuated that the hesitation meant she wasn’t “invested” in their relationship, and withdrew affection until she withdrew money from her account. In every aspect of a relationship, not respecting a “no” is a red flag, always. 

You lend more than you can afford: Yes, Covid happened and circumstances changed, but Patricia had two young children outside of the relationship. Until her and their expenses were secured and covered, she might have had cash in her bank account, but that did not mean that she had money to lend out. 

You don’t ask questions: There are people and opportunities a bank wouldn’t touch but, especially in South Africa, this doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is a bad investment. However, if you’re making a serious independent loan, you have to do “bank” things yourself – like checking credit history, assets, and financial behaviour, or you could wind up lending to a debt dodger like Phillip. There are other questions, too. Given his assets and his business, why couldn’t Phillip secure a micro-loan? Why was Patricia suddenly the juicy money pot? 

You think the dog won’t bite: Trust is a demonstration of love. But trust doesn’t mean wearing a blindfold and tying your hands behind your back. Manipulators, abusers, narcissists, and addicts all become experts at masking their behaviour and their intentions. So when it comes to death, property, money and arrangements with children (or anything outside of the love bubble) you need to have firm boundaries, keep your eyes open for warning signs, and be comfortable with what you’ll have to do when the dog starts snarling. 

There are more lessons to come in Wang’Kolota, because even a relatively small loan can cause big drama.

In episode 2 Nicky got a loan so she could lend her brother Odwa R15 000 for his studies and he agreed to pay her back. But now that he’s working and spending happily on himself, he’s refusing to pay.

When Kagiso questions Odwa, he seems “shocked” that Nicky is using the word loan, despite standing right next to her in the loan office when she secured it for him. Their fight is poisoning the family, and Kagiso calls in a family therapist to sit them both down to dig into the issue and try to get Odwa to acknowledge his own accountability. For this loan to have worked, they needed to firmly separate the agreement from their normal, day-to-day way of helping each other as siblings, and be clear and intentional about how repayment would work. 

In this episode, and throughout Wang’Kolota, we see debtors try to muddy the water by claiming that favours they have done are repayment for a big loan – without the person who gave them that loan agreeing that the favours would count towards repayment, or even how much of the loan they might cover. 

Serious money? Serious paperwork. But you still need to be willing to take that serious paperwork to court.

In episode 7, Jeanet reveals signed and stamped paperwork in hand, that she had her then-fiancé Shadrack sign an affidavit on a loan of R25 000. First, she lent him R5 000 for car repairs, then he needed R20 000 after driving into someone’s car because he didn’t have insurance (oh, so many red flags!). At that point, Jeanet insisted on paperwork, and Shadrack agreed to a repayment (informally agreeing to R10 000 in interest). Shadrack started paying Jeanet back, but stopped after just three payments of R1 500. And the relationship started falling. What’s next for the pair?

Binge all episodes of Wang’kolota S2 now on Showmax.