Arendsvlei

Beatrice Abrahams (Jolene Martin) is the principal of semi-private Cape Flats school Arendsvlei Secondary. It’s a real family business – her late father, George (Gerald Pettersen), started the school and her mother, Aunty Gertie (Celeste Matthews), has a woodwork workshop there, while her brother, Thys (Sherman Pharo), is deputy principal. Beatrice is currently in a relationship with an undercover cop, Jake Sylvester (Clayton Evertson). Daniel Lafras (Cantone James) also lives with Beatrice after she rescued him from the streets.

Ingrid van Schalkwyk (Rehane Abrahams), formerly known as Wendy Newman, is the telenovela’s villain. She is not only a ruthless businesswoman who has no boundaries, but a murderer, too. She has sold drugs on the school grounds, was part of a money heist and a human trafficking ring, and even tried to kill her own daughter, Debra (Kay Smith), and her father, Pieter (Ivan Abrahams). She killed Debra’s father, Steve Mortlock (Elton Landrew), too.

Debra Mortlock (Kay Smith), Ingrid van Schalkwyk and Steve Mortlock’s daughter, now runs her mother’s business, The Wendy House. She tried to get her mother convicted for the murders of her dad and his heist accomplice, Woelag (the late Ceagan Arendse), as well as Beatrice’s husband, David (Oscar Petersen), the former principal of Arendsvlei. She is in a relationship with Langes (Bobby Stuurman), a former associate of Wendy’s who has turned his life around.

Janice Cupido (Crystal-Donna Roberts) is Thys’s ex-wife. She is now in a relationship with her school love, Lionel Foster (Jody Abrahams). Janice is a beautician and hairdresser and chairperson of the school’s governing body. She is Steve Mortlock’s sister and hates Ingrid for killing her brother, robbing Debra of her father, and robbing Steve of a new beginning with his daughter after he was released from prison.

Ronel Martins is a teacher and Beatrice’s best friend. She was married to Lionel for years, and together they have a son named Lee-Roy (Roberto Kyle), who is gay. After Ronel and Lionel parted ways, she and Thys married, but recently their marriage ended after Ronel fell in love with Nolan Baadjies (Jacques Bessenger), the man she accidently knocked over with her car the night of Lee-Roy’s wedding to his love, Wesley (Craig Adriaanse). Nolan sustained some serious injuries including losing his eyesight. Currently he is trying to adapt to his new life as a blind person.

Hein Venter (Merlin Balie) is the quirky janitor at Arendsvlei Secondary who is easily manipulated, but he has a good heart. He has a son, Anton (Dean Richard Olivier), with his ex-wife, Natalie (Carmen Maarman). Anton owns his own bakery in town, and currently Hein is dating Yvette (Charlene le Roux).

Bompie Galant (Jarrid Geduld) is the son of the notorious gangster Desmond Galant (not on screen), and he has had his finger in everything illegal you can think of. He formed an obsession with the student and dancer Monique (Robyn Rossouw), Yvette’s daughter, who was his girlfriend for a while, until she found out that he arranged for every one of her dance partners to be assaulted because he was jealous – and ending it wasn’t something that Bompie could accept. Currently Bompie is in prison after he was found guilty of human trafficking, but something tells us he won’t stay there for too long.

Lennie ‘Lightweight’ Engelbrecht (Dann-Jaques Mouton) is a damaged man who, as an amateur boxer, got involved in illegal underground boxing tournaments. He was a ruthless boxer. Brutal and into all kinds of wrong doings, he ended up in jail after killing a man (Duggie Dynamite) in 1 of the illegal boxing matches. Lennie then found faith in jail and when he got released, he started to attend church and decided to use his talent for boxing for good and start a boxing club.