Goodbye Hlomu: Mbalenhle Mavimbela bids ‘The Wife’ farewell

Thursdays will never be the same. This is according to streaming service, Showmax, the official home for the polarising television adaptation of Dudu Busani Dube’s Hlomu series of books. And now that the show is coming to an end after two years of trending on social media, lead actress Mbalenhle Mavimbela is taking a retrospective look back at her career-making role as Hlomu in The Wife. 

Her reflection comes just as the complete box set of all three seasons of The Wife become available on Showmax. 

‘National Wife’

Despite being met with a little resistance from fans of the book series when she was first cast as Hlomu, Mbalenhle Mavimbela won viewers of the multi-award-winning, record-breaking Showmax Original telenovela over.

They went on to nickname her “the national wife” for her breakthrough performance opposite first Bonko Khoza and then Wiseman Mncube as Mqhele Zulu. 

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According to Showmax, their toxic love story forced Hlomu to choose between a life of uncovering the truth and a life of hiding it, as she transformed from a passionate investigative journalist into the matriarch of the Zulu brothers’ crime family.  

“Getting this character on such a huge platform, Showmax, has been life-changing: financially, mentally and work-wise in terms of how I approach my career,” said the Ladysmith-born actress. 

“When people see me, they still see Hlomu and still talk about how Hlomu has touched them,” Mbalenhle Mavimbela added. 

“I’ve had a couple of people cry when they see me. I think it’s because of the touching storyline that Hlomu has and how well I performed it. As much as I’m de-roling, I think Hlomu will last in my life forever. People will always see Hlomu when they see me.”

‘I didn’t do it alone’

“I didn’t do it alone, I did it with my co-stars, with the team which was the floor – the crew, directors, producers, writers, continuity, and production – and with Showmax, who could see how big the show was going to be,” she said, honouring everyone who had been on the journey with her.  

In particular, she thanked the Zulu brothers she acted opposite. 

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“Working with the brothers has been so amazing,” Mbalenhle Mavimbela said. 

“The Zulu brothers became my brothers; we became family. Some of them still call me; we still hang out, even to this day. They’ve literally welcomed me as a mother, a little sister and a wife. I guess I will forever be that to them. Working with them was so amazing and so fun. We spent so much time with each other and built great bonds. We learnt so much from each other and want to collaborate more.”

While she says she didn’t work as much with the other wives, as “Naledi was shooting in a different space and Zandile was shooting with us but was in jail for most of the time”, “I really enjoyed working with them as well”.

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The 5am gang

Mbalenhle also thanked The Wife’s passionate fans.

“To the 5am gang, they are always going to be my people. I appreciate them for sharing so much love and support. I’m so grateful for how they accepted me. There were people that were skeptical about the fact that this was not the Hlomu they expected at first, and mostly those were probably people who have read Dudu Busani-Dube’s book. 

“But people who didn’t read the book just fell in love with this new girl they’ve never seen. Even though I’ve done other shows, they fell in love with this girl who is performing such a heavy storyline that represents women in South Africa. So I just want to say thank you so much to the 5am gang. I love you guys and I hope we continue this relationship on social media and of course all the other work I will get.” 

‘Thank you Hlomu’

Finally, Mbalenhle also thanked the spirit of her character, Hlomu. 

“I just want to thank Hlomu as well, as I believe there is a spirit that’s somewhere. When writers write, yes they imagine but they imagine someone that’s either lived or that’s still going to live. When people say, ‘I feel like I’m Hlomu’, then it means she’s somewhere there. So I want to say thank you to that spirit for allowing me to fit myself in her shoes and say, ‘Imagine this was my life’ and play that for the world. 

“This was such a spiritual journey for me. I connected with this character so much, on a level I never thought I would connect to the character. So thank you! It’s been one of those life-changing moments,” concluded Mbalenhle Mavimbela.

Find out how Hlomu and Mqhele’s toxic love story ends, and whether Naledi and Qhawe live happily ever after, by tuning into the series finale of The Wife, now streaming on Showmax.

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