Sweetness

Zaba Zimbi, the managing director of Sweetness, one of the biggest sugar estates in South Africa, is used to ridicule. When her husband, Phillip, was alive, they lived separately in two identical glass houses joined by a walkway. Her love for Mphikwa, Phillip's daughter with Pinkie, one of the workers, was another joke. It also led to her son Muhle's divorce from his wife, Thandi. Their twins live with the father. Hatred for Mphikwa pushed Silomo, Zaba's youngest son, to a path of self-destruction. The list of names at the back of the book explains how children like Silomo live up to their names. On top of all this, Zaba's livelihood is threatened by the waning demand for sugar globally and the strategic partners she brought into the company.