Zikhona Sodlaka talks playing Mandisa and having SA love or hate her guts

Actress Zikhona Sodlaka's character on The Wife has taken the viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride especially her last rodeo when she burnt money meant to save Zandile from prison.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, the actress said she was caught off guard by the amount of love and appreciation she has been getting. She said it was an honour to play the wildfire and ball of energy that is Mandisa.

“You can only imagine it caught me by surprise but I love being part of the SA population. I love belonging to this country, and for this country to say yes to me and to see them so invested  in the story it means they really do see themselves in it. It makes me a proudly SA true story.”

Zikhona said award-winning author Dudu Busani- Dube, whose books inspired the series, and the screen play writer did an incredible job. 

The question on many people's lips is how does she pull off the Mandisa from the book and deliver what some have said is exactly what they imagined the character to be like.  

“Most of it is in the material and how I understand the story to be. When we were introduced to her by the books,  she was this woman that no-one truly understood why she is how she is. I just have this opportunity of unpacking one of the most wildest characters that SA has known and loved and I have no choice but to run with her because of who she is. She is nothing less of what you know her to be. I think I have to do justice to all the women that Mandisa represents.”

 The actress said Mandisa's resilience reminds her of South Africans.

“She reminds me of South Africans because we’ve gone through the worst and we just stay laughing. Even though we’ve been through the pits we stay humble, happy, hungry and we stay welcoming so she is that too, and she’s a woman at the end of the day, just another girl with a story.”

The Wife, smashed all sorts of records at Showmax after it premiered last year in its first week.

“One thing I know for sure is that we don’t get to experience all of this in SA work getting taken to screen often. I mean can we continue, If The Wife has broken such records, beyond that it has resonated with SA hearts. Still I think it means a lot more of this needs to happen.  We've got beautiful books that South Africans have written from comedy to thriller to horror, they need to be translated to shows because there is something there.

“I didn’t know it was gonna be this nice, and I didn’t know it was gonna be this patriotic. I was like its another screen play, its another script, but the fact that its done so much for the SA audience all of us on set we are very honoured to be part of this iconic movement.”