Wearing two caps at once
LEGEND: ACTRESS LELETI KHUMALO GETS OFFERED A JOB SHE HAS BEEN PRAYING YEARS FOR
I needed people out there to know that I’ve welcomed a new Leleti who has got vitiligo, she says. Tshepiso Makhele
She is the woman most young black girls grew up looking up to and wishing to emulate. Watching internationally acclaimed movie Sarafina! introduced most children in townships to this fearless woman from KwaMashu township in Durban. In a school uniform in director and theatre producer Mbongeni Ngema’s 1992 production Sarafina!, South African youth at the time grew up with this TV talent until she featured in the popular soapie Generations, now putting on her power-suit as Busi Dlomo and owning the boardroom. Years later, Khumalo mutated to become mamfudisi (the pastor’s wife), MaNzuza, in Uzalo. After three years starring in the nation’s most viewed telenovela, she transformed to MaZulu in e.tv’s daily drama Imbewu: The Seed. It only started showing this month.
Despite having the incredible ability to transform herself from one character to the other, and now also producing Imbewu: The Seed and starring as lead actress – a job she has been dreaming about – Khumalo says growing up without her father and having only her domestic worker mother, made her wish to be nothing but a social worker.
She admits that she forgot about the profession after realising her acting skills in Sarafina!. This, she explains, was the path that had its fair share of challenges, but nonetheless moulded her to being the Leleti she is today.
Choosing acting
“It was when we were in New York doing Sarafina! on Broadway and I thought to myself, I think I want to associate myself with this life because I believe in discipline in every aspect of my life,” she said, explaining that she joined the acting industry at the age of 16.
Khumalo admits that although youngsters like her had people taking care of them during the international Sarafina! tour, she had to make a decision then to take care of her craft and learn as much as she could.
Though she says there is no role that can ever replace Sarafina!, she says portraying the role of Yesterday Khumalo in the film Yesterday was one of her most memorable roles.
“When I agreed to do Yesterday, I told myself that I was doing it for the women out there, especially those in the rural areas,” she said. “The work that they do is unbelievable, but they are hardly recognised and we tend to forget about them. These women are living painful lives.”
Khumalo says having to watch her mother struggle to find and keep a job after her father died, was what she drew inspiration from to depict her role as Yesterday in a flawless manner.
“Before my father’s passing, the only thing my mother knew was being a housewife, and then she had to go and look for a job, whichever one she could find,” she says. “She worked as a domestic worker.
“I knew my mother was suffering, and it is that knowledge that helped me deliver the role I played in Yesterday. In the film, after falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and young daughter to tend to, Yesterday’s one objective was to live long enough to see her child go to school.”
Now she is MaZulu
“It’s very challenging to get different roles and portray them differently and realistically,” she said, reflecting on the time she sat down with the team of Imbewu: The Seed to talk about her role.
“I sat with my partners and we agreed that we had to create my role in such a manner that people will forget MaNzuza from Uzalo, and what helped me do this is the fact that e.tv agreed to portray the character as simple me, as in not covering my vitiligo, the skin disease,” she explained.
“I sat down with myself and felt that I needed people out there to know that I’ve welcomed a new Leleti who has vitiligo, and I do not want their pity. e.tv gave me that opportunity despite the fact that in this industry it’s all about how you look and your shape. It’s a harsh industry and I give the channel all the respect.”
Wearing her producer cap
“I have always wanted to be a producer or a director. I love it but it’s also quite challenging wearing two caps at once in the same drama series,” she said with laughter while pointing out that at times she forgets that she is the lead actress when she suddenly sees mistakes on set.
“I’ve been in the industry forever and I’ve seen it all, and I’ve witnessed how actors are being treated. This has not sat well with me for a long time, and these are some of the things I want to change.”
Khumalo says she believes it will not be difficult for South Africans to relate to Imbewu: The Seed because it is based a lot on culture and incidents that happen daily in people’s lives. “A lot of people can be uncomfortable in going with Imbewu because it tackles an uncomfortable subject in the black community; a subject we need to speak more of.”
I have always wanted to be a producer or a director. I love it but it’s also quite challenging wearing two caps at once in the same drama series.
Leleti Khumalo Actress and producer
A mom and a wife
“Growing up without my parents I told myself that I want to give my children and husband all the love I have, and I want to be available in raising this family, and fortunately I have an extremely supportive husband now, and that is what changed me, because at first it used to be all about me and my career. Now it’s all about my family and my career,” she said.
Khumalo says although some people are too quick to label her as boring, she loves making people happy, and if circumstances allowed, she would help everyone that needed help. She describes herself as simple, a woman who loves her family to bits.