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The empowered black careerwoman and her desire to be the best in whatever she does, from business matters to her personal life, is explored in SABC 1's four-part mini-series Society.

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The Cast of Society Lele Ledwaba, Sibulele Gcilitshana, Zandile Msutwana and Samele Tylbooi

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Society begins with four high-school friends, reunited after the fifth friend in their crew commits suicide. Too busy chasing their dreams, the women failed to pay attention to each other, and guilt-ridden, they decide to follow a social tradition by forming a burial society, hence the name of the show (during the apartheid era, black communities set up informal saving schemes, known as "societies," to assist each other in burying their loved ones, because they were barred from using the existing financial infrastructures that were reserved for the white population).

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When trouble sets in, like a funeral, they are the first to arrive to prepare food for mourners and make sure that arrangements are followed through. But in the new South Africa, where neighbours don’t know each other, these women find themselves without a sense of community and things like a society are foreign. In addition to the changes in society, the women have to face their own issues--looking for love, hoping for a family, dealing with failing relationships, seeking wealth ... and all the themes that we women can relate to.

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Part Sex and the City (modern career women) meets Desperate Housewifes (reunited by a dead friend) and all African, Society depicts the real pains, secrets and dreams of the empowered black woman. The series airs on Thursdays on South Africa's SABC1.

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(Photo Credits: Provided Courtesy of SABC 1)