Here comes uncle!
Mkhonto is back in town to extend a loving hand to Nosipho and a fist to Nkunzi and Mxolisi.
Mkhonto Xulu (Bonga Dlamini) has never had a warm relationship with his late brother Muzi’s (Mpumelelo Bhulose) wife and children. He is more your discipline-and- disapproval uncle than Mr Fun Times when he shows up to give the family their semi-annual scolding. But his niece Nosipho’s (Nompilo Maphumulo) recent dream quest to uncover the Xulu ancestors’ graves brings out an astonishing new side to him. With Nosipho foremost in his thoughts on Thursday 15 November, Mkhonto sets about putting his niece’s home in order. That means getting rid of her gangster stepdad Nkunzi (Masoja Msiza) and testing her brother Mxolisi (Nay Maps Maphalala).
FAMILY TIES
“Nosipho needs answers to where her life is going to go because her dreams are changing everything about what she has known and understood for her entire life. Her mother MaNgcobo (Dawn Thandeka King) is not a Xulu, so it becomes very clear, very quickly that she needs somebody from her father’s side,” explains Bonga. “As Mkhonto is the younger brother, he comes in to assist her and they go through the journey as a family.” Nosipho’s willingness to work herself nearly to death to answer the ancestral calling and the fact that she has found something so essential to the Xulu family’s history and their future is precious to Mkhonto and it will change his dynamic with her. “To Mkhonto, there is nothing better than family. The family connection, the family love, is the only thing that Mkhonto accepts and loves and is willing to do anything for,” adds Bonga.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
“It will show how profound Mkhonto is as a human being. That doesn’t come across so often because he is a character who is made out of circumstances. But by birth he is an intelligent, giving, loving man. He is a family man through and through. And now we will get to see the truth about the man himself,” reveals Bonga. “Playing Mkhonto has always been fascinating and powerful for me. Now it is very calming, thoughtful and spiritual. It feels like a dream. It feels like I am floating when I play him in this way,” he says happily.
THE KNIVES ARE OUT
While Mkhonto will embrace Nosipho, Nkunzi should expect no such indulgence. “He has never been pleased about Nkunzi being part of the family or about Nkunzi being the husband of MaNgcobo,” points out Bonga. “Mkhonto doesn’t understand or accept how a man like Nkunzi can come into his brother’s house and take his wealth or his belongings without coming to the table with something to match that. To Mkhonto, that’s a simple fact that every man should be able to understand – but Nkunzi does not seem to be smart enough, according to Mkhonto, to realise this. Mkhonto believes that Nkunzi is basically a common criminal thug.” And on Thursday 15 November, Mkhonto sets plans in motion to put Nkunzi out of business.