I didn't know nothing about soaps, says Mfundi Vundla

Mfundi Vundla: TV bigwig, Generations creator and soapie king. There's no denying that his name is synonymous with success. But when he first started out in the soapie world, he knew nothing about the genre. Seriously.

You'd think that the man behind South Africa's biggest soapie had a passion for the genre before starting out. That he was a fan of other international soapies like Bold and The Beautiful or Days of Our Lives. Nah, fam.

In an intimate conversation with Anele Mdoda on her show, Real Talk, Mfundi explained that he had been living in America and had developed a taste for cop inspired shows.

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He was expelled from South Africa and headed overseas, where through a string of bizarre circumstances, he found himself in the TV industry.

When he headed back home, after the end of Apartheid, doors were opened.

"They said we want you to do a soap for the SABC. I didn't know nothing about soap operas."

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Mfundi  spent time locked away, doing research on soapies.

"I predicated the emergence of the African middle class. I created a series that was aspirational."

Describing what Africans were portrayed as prior to Generations, Mfundi explained that there was a lot of narrative around witchcraft, a myth that he wanted to dispel.

The show was released and aired weekly. It grew and eventually was a daily soapie - the biggest the country had seen.

The TV master says the despite the success - and failures - he knows that his main priority is not the the SABC, but to the audience. And to ensure that the audience is entertained.