Fashioning Modern Africanism

The Mthatha-born actress has already earned DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Award and SAFTA nominations this year for her fan-favourite role as Mandisa in  The Wife,  Showmax’s most popular series ever. Now she’s also stealing scenes in the African fantasy epic  Blood Psalms,  which had the most first-day views of any drama on Showmax ever.  In  Blood Psalms , she plays Sithenjwa, the mistress of Senator Jabari (SAFTA and Africa Movie Academy Awards nominee Richard Lukunku) of the mighty Great Nziwemabwe. She’s traveling with him to the Akachi citadel for the upcoming wedding of King Letsha (four time SAFTA winner Mothusi Magano), but she has her own reasons for attending.  When  The Wife  returns in November for Season 3, expect Twitter to be singing Zikhona’s praises for  Blood Psalms  every Wednesday and for  The Wife  every Thursday - especially as this season her character Mandisa goes through the most.  We caught up with the 37-year-old to find out more about starring in two hits sho

Stained Glass, the production company behind  The Wife , has confirmed that Bonko Khoza, who played Mqhele in the first two seasons, isn’t returning in  Season 3 of the record-breaking, Twitter-topping Showmax Original telenovela . They’re currently casting for his replacement.  Inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s bestselling book  Naledi His Love , Season 3 of  The Wife  will return to South African screens in November 2022 with Gaisang K Noge in the lead role as doctor Naledi Montsho, who is in love with Qhawe Zulu (2022 DStv Mzansi Magic Viewers’ Choice Rising Star winner Kwenzo Ngcobo), dubbed “the Woolworths of amadoda” by  Twitter . Each season has focused on a different couple: Hlomu and Mqhele in S1, Zandile and Nkosana in S2, and now Naledi and Qhawe.    “We know fans are going to find it hard to let go of their picture of Mqhele as Bonko, just as they found it hard, when he was first cast, to let go of the bug-eyed Mqhele they had pictured from the book,” says series producer Kamo

While you wait for Season 3 in November 2022,  Behind The Veil  brings all your faves back to revisit the questions that kept  The Wife  at the top of Twitter every Thursday for two seasons.  The Wife  broke records on Showmax, won DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards for Abdul Khoza (Nqoba) and Kwenzo Ngcobo (Qhawe), and is now up for 10 SAFTAs, including Best Telenovela, Best Actor (Bonko Khoza as Mqhele), Best Supporting Actor (Abdul Khoza as Nqoba), and Supporting Actress (Zikhona Sodlaka as Mandisa).                                 Watch the trailer: In episode 1, Bonko and Mbalenhle Mavimbela (Hlomu) talk about their characters’ toxic love story and how the nation fell in and then out of love with Mqhele.    In episode 2, the directors and writers of  The Wife  weigh in on what “inspired by” actually means and the controversial changes they made to Dudu Busani-Dube’s beloved books.    In episode 3, Khanyi Mbau (Zandile) and Mondli Makhoba (Nkosana) reflect on their characters’ love

Khanyi Mbau ( Unmarried ,   Happiness Ever After ) has landed the biggest role of her career: she’s joining the record-breaking Showmax Original telenovela,   The Wife,  in the Season 2 lead role of Zandile The Resolute, playing the wife of Nkosana (fan-favourite Mondli Makhoba), the leader of the Zulu brothers’ crime family.   Eagle-eyed fans of the hit show, which has topped Twitter every Thursday since its launch, will get their first glimpse of Khanyi as Zandile in Thursday’s episodes.    While she does feature again - and more prominently - in Season 1, she’ll take centre stage in Season 2, which premieres on Showmax in February 2022, and will be inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s bestselling novel  Zandile The Resolute .  "Season 2 is told through the eyes of uZandile,” says Stained Glass showrunner Gugu Ncube-Zuma ( eHostela ,  Ifalakhe ). “We'll be exploring Nkosana and Zandile's love story and finding out more about their history. We'll get to know Zandile as the

The Johannesburg Review of Books  calls Dudu Busani-Dube “a publishing phenomenon.” She’s become the face of self-publishing in South Africa, having topped the Exclusive Books charts, and landed four books simultaneously in the Nielsen Bookscan SA bestseller list for July 2021. And that was before Showmax announced they were adapting the series of books that made her name -  Hlomu the Wife ,  Zandile the Resolute  and  Naledi His Love  - into their first Showmax Original telenovela, unleashing the most heated casting debate South Africa has ever seen.    As  IOL ’s Buhle Mbonambi put it, “No other South African series had garnered that much attention on who was cast in the roles before. In my years of reporting about the South African TV industry, I had never come across such heated debate. Even when Deon Meyer's  Trackers  book was adapted for screen by M-Net, there wasn't this much attention paid to the casting choices. But then there have been few characters as fascinating o

The teaser gives fans their first glimpse of the actors who landed the coveted roles. Rising star Mbalenhle Mavimbela ( Skeem Saam ,  Isipho ) will play Hlomu, the journalist who falls in love with a taxi driver, not realising that when you marry a man, you marry his secrets. Mqhele will be played by Bonko Khoza, who burst onto the acting scene as Jabz in the multi-award-winning film  Necktie Youth  and has since appeared in the likes of  Professionals  and the Emmy-nominated  Roots .    “I got to spend some time with Mbali and Bonko on set and they are great – new, fresh faces,” says Dudu. “They’ve already developed a chemistry and should do justice to the characters.” “Mbalenhle and Bonko are fairly fresh faces in the industry; there isn’t any one role or character that audiences can instinctively affix to them,” says showrunner Gugu Ncube-Zuma. “As a result, they will truly embody and be known intrinsically as Hlomu and Mqhele. What solidified this decision was their undeniable chem

When Showmax announced they were making a telenovela inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s bestselling novel  Hlomu the Wife,  overjoyed fans immediately took to social media to offer their casting suggestions for the lead roles of Hlomu and Mqhele.   Now Showmax has confirmed that Mqhele will be played by Bonko Khoza, who burst onto the acting scene as Jabz in the multi-award-winning film  Necktie Youth  and has since appeared in the likes of  Professionals  and the Emmy-nominated  Roots .    “I read the book a couple of years ago and was a fan from the moment I put it down,” says Bonko. “Fast forward to 2021 when I got sent an audition for the series. I’m really excited to bring to life this incredible piece of writing. Dudu created a compelling work of art and now we get to breathe life into it, put faces to names and show it to the world.” Showmax has also confirmed the casting of  Mqhele’s family, the  Zulu brothers, with  Kwenzo Ngcobo ( Imbewu ) as Qhawe; Sipho Ndlovu ( Isibaya ,  The