The actress opens up about the emotional depth of her character in Mzansi Magic’s new drama, which explores ambition, family secrets and the consequences of choices made across generations.
By Bulelwa Hoala
What happens when the very thing that helps you build a future begins to threaten the people you are trying to protect?
This is the difficult question asked in Inyosi, a new 13-part drama premiering on Mzansi Magic (DStv channel 161) tonight, Monday, 2 November, at 8pm.
Led by award-winning South African actress Dawn Thandeka King, the series explores family, ambition, cultural expectations and the weight of decisions made in the pursuit of a better life.
The story at the centre of the drama?
A woman builds a successful business, raises her children and becomes someone her community looks up to. From the outside, Mabongi Mageza-Ngcobo appears to have achieved the life she once fought for. But there is a secret behind her success, and the choices she made to get there may have consequences that reach far beyond her own life.
A decision made 30 years ago
King plays Mabongi, a widow, successful businesswoman and CEO of Ekhaya Events and Catering. She is also a mother of three children: Nsika (Kwanele Mkhize), Kwanele (Toka Mtabane) and Samukelo (Nandipa Khubone).
Questions about the future of the family business emerge and her children star competing to prove that they are worthy of taking over from their mother. Little do they know that the family’s tensions are rooted in an event that took place 30 years ago.
As a young woman, Mabongi fell pregnant by the man she loved, Bheki. When she and her family went to inform his family, he rejected her and announced that he intended to marry another woman, whom he considered pure and untainted.
The rejection was very painful because Mabongi worked hard to preserve her purity and had participated in Umhlanga, a traditional rite of passage for young women. She was not only rejected by the man she loved, but was also turned away by some of the young women sheparticipated in the ceremony with.
Hurt and humiliated, Mabongi turned to spiritual healer Sunday Nkabinde, played by Zakhele Msibi, hoping to find umuthi wenhlanhla that would win back her lover. Instead, she was offered isithwalo that promised to change her fortunes.
Unaware of what the decision would mean for her future, Mabongi accepted.
The consequences of that choice begin to surface in the present, when Buhle, played by newcomer Kethukuthula Jele, starts uncovering the mystery behind a distinctive honeycomb-shaped mark on her back. The mark is linked to a decades-old secret, raising questions about the agreement Mabongi entered into and what she may have to sacrifice to maintain the life she has built.
Dawn Thandeka King on the woman behind Mabongi
For King, Mabongi’s journey begins with the desire to escape the place where she was rejected and humiliated. But that desire to rebuild her life gradually becomes something more complicated.
“When Mabongi was initially rejected and publicly humiliated, I think the one thing she had in mind was to escape the place where she had been rejected and humiliated and make something of herself.
“Deep down, I think there was also a desire to prove her worth without a man by her side.”
King explains that Mabongi was already running her catering business while she was still married. By the time the series begins, she has lost her husband and established herself as a successful businesswoman.
But the decision to take on isithwalo changes the course of her life.
“When she took on isithwalo, she was still young and did not understand the repercussions at the time. However, because isithwalo kept pushing her towards greater wealth and success, it eventually became her driving force.
“I think that’s where she crossed the line. I genuinely believe she could have worked hard and achieved success without isithwalo. She is naturally someone who pushes herself to reach a certain level.”
King says the tragedy is that Mabongi had the ability to build a successful life without relying on something she would eventually struggle to control.
“But when she saw that isithwalo was contributing to her success, she continued feeding into that side of things. She kept it going, even though she knew she needed to stop. Eventually, it started turning against her.
“I just believe she could have achieved everything without crossing that line or holding on to isithwalo.”
This is what makes Mabongi’s story more just about a woman who wants wealth and success. She’s worked hard to build her life, but her fear of losing what she has achieved is almost as powerful as the desire that got her there.
When a parent’s choices become a family’s legacy
Inyosi also explores how the decisions adults make can shape the lives of their children and generations that follow.
King believes this is one of the most important themes in the story.
“I definitely believe that the choices we make affect our children.
“As parents, when we make positive choices in life, even before having children, we give them an opportunity to have a positive life. We also teach them how to make positive choices themselves.”
She says the consequences of those decisions are not limited to the people who make them.
“When parents don’t make good choices, those decisions affect their children, whether they are financial, personal or family-related.
“It is very important to make good choices and decisions because our personal decisions can affect generations to come. It doesn’t end with us. When people pass on, they leave legacies behind.”
This theme runs through Mabongi’s determination to provide for her family and protect the business she has built.
The pressure to be everything to everyone
Mabongi’s position as a successful businesswoman and head of her household comes with expectations.
She is expected to provide for her children, maintain her business and remain a respected figure in the community. King says one of the things she discovered while playing the character was how much these expectations had taken out of Mabongi.
“What I discovered while portraying Mabongi was the expectation placed on her to be a successful businesswoman, a good mother and a good daughter, not only to her own mother but also to the community she left behind.
“Sometimes those expectations stretch us thin. They stretch you when you try to be everything to everyone.”
Despite everything she has built, King says Mabongi is a woman who has become emotionally depleted.
“She wanted to give herself to so many people and things: her business, her children, isithwalo and everything else.
“But it left Mabongi empty.”
For King, the character also speaks to the importance of women recognising their own needs, rather than measuring their worth only through what they can do for others.
“What I learned from her is that, even though women are expected to be good mothers, role models, daughters and community leaders, we still need to take care of ourselves.
“And she didn’t.”
A different kind of strong woman
King is no stranger to playing strong, complex women, but she says Mabongi gave her the opportunity to explore a different side of herself as an actor.
Instead of relying only on the character’s strength and authority, she had to explore the fears, vulnerability and emotional battles beneath the surface.
“She allowed me to be vulnerable and explore darker emotional spaces, although with caution. Sometimes you don’t want to go too deep into a dark space, but this role required me to explore that side of the character.
“It allowed me not to rely only on the exterior but also to explore what was happening internally. I went through all her layers, right to the bottom.”
King says the script gave her the space to explore the character’s emotional depth without holding back.
“Honestly, this role felt like waking up from a very deep sleep as an actor. Sometimes you want a script that will take you through all kinds of emotions because, as actors, we rely on the emotions of the characters we portray.
“This character was different because it wasn’t necessarily just about the strength of a woman, but also her vulnerability and fears. Her fear for herself, her family and the losses she experiences, and how those losses affect her.”
With Mabongi’s past beginning to catch up with her and her children uncovering secrets she has kept hidden, Inyosi explores the lengths people will go to protect what they have built.
See the pics of the cast in the gallery below:
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