‘You want to respect him’: Wiseman Mncube on portraying the life of kwaito star Mandoza

Acting comes with pressures, but that is added when you have to portray the life of someone famous who has died.

Actor Wiseman Mncube has taken the responsibility of portraying Kwaito legend Mandoza in a BET TV series.

“To be honest it’s shocking and scary but at the same time I’m honoured,” said Mncube in an interview. “Not anyone could get this chance to wear him. It’s a blessing.”

The Life of Mandoza premiered on BET on Wednesday and listening to Mncube speak about his preparation for the role, you get a sense of how serious the role is to the 33-year-old thespian.

“I was given a lot of videos, information and research. There was just a flood of information I could take off and actually work on.”

“You want to respect him [Mandoza] you want to put him in a way people honour him you know,” says Mncube on playing the Nkalakata hitmaker who was also part of Kwaito group Chiskop.

Getting to know Mandoza

“It was very hard but I told myself I’m going to respect this guy and just go with the flow. Listening to his music back then we were just dancing and vibing to it.

“But now you listen to the lyrics and I get the sense of how he was thinking, how he writes, the messages that give me [the idea] of the kind of person he is.

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Mncube said even before shooting he went to Mandoza’s neighbourhood in Zola, Soweto.

“People were actually telling me stories about him. This guy was a people’s person and it just shifted the whole world in which I saw him. He was a very caring person,” said Mncube of his revelations of Mandoza, whose real name was Mduduzi Tshabalala.

The actor is one of the lead characters in the Mzansi Magic hit-series Shaka iLembe. Mncube portrays the character of King Zwide kaLanga on the TV show.

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