Kagiso says bye to Mangi & Scandal!
After 13 years of deception and drama, Mangi Nyathi has finally had enough!
Scandal! Weekdays e.tv (*194) 19:30
Friday 13 April was deeply unlucky for Mangi Nyathi (Kagiso Modupe), who was beaten half to death by his cousin Quinton (Brighton Ngoma) before being dumped off a rooftop by his ex-wife Dintle (Mapaseka Koetle). And while Quinton and Dintle have been twisting on crime boss Neo’s (Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makhetha) blackmail hook ever since Neo “got rid of” Mangi’s body for them, Mangi has secretly been in a coma in private clinic since Wednesday 18 April. When he finally came round on Thursday 3 May, it was with no memory of who he is or how he got there. And he had no memory of asking Neo to kill Quinton before he plotted to commit suicide by leaping off the NFH building while holding Quinton and Dintle’s daughter Khanyi Jewel (Mckenzie Myburgh) in his arms. No wonder Quinton and Dintle found themselves tongue-tied when Mangi started asking questions about his life on Tuesday 8 May. But the past month’s memories are a walk in the park compared to the rest of ex-jailbird Mangi’s life! “This guy has been through a lot. There was the suicidal ex. Drugs. He drank a fair amount. He was a sex addict. It’s been a wild ride and his list of ‘crimes’ is long. I think there’s even murder somewhere on that list,” Kagiso says, shaking his head in amusement.
GOODBYE, GOODBYE
Scandal! fans are in for a real emotional rollercoaster between Mangi and Quinton on Friday 11 May before Mangi leaves us on Monday 14 May. Those final moments have been a long time coming for Kagiso, who has been riding out a storm of life changes himself since 2017. Kagiso tweeted his decision to leave Scandal! on Tuesday
6 March this year, shortly after the death of Kagiso’s mentor, friend and father figure Sandy Mokwena (Bra Eddie) on Wednesday 24 January. “Even referring to Sandy now is difficult because he was my mentor and ‘father’ since day one. He’s very much in the script and everyone had difficulty. We ‘worked around it’, not having him there, referring to him in lines. But there is this giant hole in the middle of the team,” he says sadly. But while Kagiso has lost a father, he has clearly gained a new vision for his life. “One word: growth. I was 21 when I started. I have grown and developed, but leaving will give me a different platform, to grow differently,” Kagiso explains. “I love work. I’m currently doing auditions and I’m not taking
the soaps-only approach. There is so much out there to do. I am ready! Drama, comedy… you name it. I’m also producing a film that we are working on, I’ve got a book out [Along Came Tsakani, 2017]. I’ve got music out [his new track The Waaa Song was released on Friday 19 January this year]. I just don’t want to be typecast. I had to pass on a role recently that was just too similar to Mangi,” he reveals.
MY FINAL TAKE
Kagiso calls shooting Mangi’s final scene “emotional”. “It’s been a while as Mangi, 13 years! It dawned on me that ‘ this is it’ when I walked on the set for those last shots. It’s been at the back of my mind since last year, but then you get here and it’s, like, ‘Whoa!’” Kagiso fights back emotion with humour as he describes his Scandal! family’s farewell. “It was the usual ‘ farewell session’: speeches, snacks, hugs, that kind of thing with the whole team. That was sand in my eye. I wasn’t crying!” he insists. And he hints that “the last, last, last scene. You’re going to know that he is going as soon as it starts. That might be my favourite scene. With all the storylines that pulled viewers in over the years. The drugs, the prison… I think that leaving will be Mangi’s biggest storyline.”