Thandy Matlaila is a multimedia personality whom most people have seen on the big screen, portraying various characters for some of the country’s biggest television production firms.
The hyper and vibrant actress was in the city for the third race of the SPAR Grand Prix 10km women’s challenge at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday July 16.
She is the official ambassador of this year’s races.
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“The race was amazing and I love the stories most of the runners shared with me. Seeing them pushing to get to the finish line is motivating. I have realised that this race is personal to each and every woman. They are their own competition,” Matlaila said.
Some people may know her as Lindiwe Ngema on Tshisa, but she has grown her brand name in the entertainment industry. “I was not willing to settle to be just an actress and I wanted something that will be a game changer when I came back. Cleo made the impact I was hoping for after the break, while I had another character of Ntlakanipho on Ring of Lies,” she said.
Fast forward to this year. She embarked on a character named Blue, who is an exotic dancer on Lingashoni, which aired on 1Magic. “That experience was beautiful, but I had to learn a lot about pole dancing. It is not like normal dancing, because it takes so much upper and core strength.”
She shared that she was happy to be in province and described it as her home away from home. “It is not my first time in the province. I enjoy most of my holidays at the exquisite Sudwala Lodge. One thing I have not done, is travelling and sightseeing on the Panorama Route, and I have to do it before the year ends,” she said excitedly.
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She was eager to share that her future plans may include coming to Mpumalanga to host her motivational talks for women. In the meantime, her message to women is to make use of the Z3 code, which she has implemented in her life.
“The Z3 code is ‘Zazi, Zithande, Zithembe’, which means ‘Know, love and trust yourself’. If you master this code, you will overcome anything, whether it is social media standards, peer pressure or toxic relationships. If you can trust your decisions, then you will conquer the world,” she said.