Black Tax

What is Black Tax? For Thuli Dlamini, it means her father losing his pension, her parents moving in, and her cousin sending her son to live with her. With her brother also relying on her, life will never be the same for Thuli, But that’s family, right?

To mark Sizwe and Martha's relocation to her house, Thuli holds a ceremony to alert the ancestors, where a goat will be slaughtered. This leaves Sihle in an awkward position, caught between her culture, and her desire to protect animal rights.

Zakhele is enrolled in Sihle's school, and it feels like an alien planet. Martha and Sizwe try to adjust to their new home and find new hobbies and friends, with disastrous results.

Fed up with her brother's slacker ways, Thuli decides to help him attend a party so he can pitch a lucrative idea to a celebrity. Martha fires Thuli's domestic worker, believing the women in the house should do the cleaning.

Martha drags the whole family to church, where she's soon embroiled in competition with the head of the Women's League to collect blankets for charity. The last thing Thuli wants is to attend church until she realizes just how attractive the Pastor is.

James tries to exploit Thuli's blackness to gain more clients. Thuli goes along with the plan with a few conditions, until she realizes that being the ethnic face of the company isn't all it's cracked up to be.

To make him feel more productive, Thuli gets Sizwe a part-time job doing handyman work at her open houses. But her dad's need to fix absolutely everything almost costs her a major sale. Martha freaks out when she finds Sihle's birth control pills.

After getting up on her soapbox about the family overspending, Thuli feels embarrassed when she falls in love with a pair of boots and must hide them. Meanwhile, Menzi is back to his old tricks, trying to ensnare his sister in a styling gel venture

Instead of helping Zak with a school assignment—like he was supposed to—Sizwe ends up taking over the entire project. As a result, he receives a grade that reflects the expectations of his overbearing grandfather.

Apparently, Black Tax requires one to host four-night vigils to prepare for the funeral of a distant relative. Thuli finds herself in charge of a madhouse filled with a befuddled James, an extravagant Antonio, and her parents' arch-nemeses—the Buthelezis!

Menzi's roommates have finally had enough and kick him out when he lands an opportunity to be on a reality show and excludes them. Homeless, Menzi squats in one of Thuli's open houses, courting disaster.

After Martha ropes Sihle into helping her with her Women's Guild duties, the youngster's inner Social Justice Warrior emerges. Menzi and Zak decide to go camping. Thuli tags along to keep them alive.

Zak's mother, Julia, blows into town for a surprise visit. She's Thuli's best friend and a complete mess. When Julia and Thuli butt heads on what being a parent means, Julia makes a decision that could rip the newly formed family apart.