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Former The Wife actress Zikhona Sodlaka made an emotional exit from the show, leaving an impression not only on her former co-stars, but also on millions of The Wife viewers. She had an emotional exit and, as the book had originally planned, she committed suicide.
On the final three episodes of The Showmax original series, viewers felt Mandisa’s pain. She had accidentally shot her own son Ndumiso after losing her husband Nqoba Zulu, played by Abdul Khoza.
The Zulu Brothers all seemed to be against Mandisa, which drove her insane.
Sodlaka told Zimoja about her departure, saying she had a good time.
“I’m not even sure where to begin, but perhaps, let me start from the beginning, From the very inception and creation of the books by Dudu-Busani Dube.
“The Wife was already set up to win because the books are incredible and everybody who fell in love with them from their creation knew that they would love the screen version,” she told the publication.
Zikhona spoke fondly of her former cast members.
”We laughed, cried, brainstormed, fought, and committed. So thank you. Thank you to the cast – Mbalenhle Mavimbela, Khanyi Mbau, and the new additions to this season.”
What’s stands out though is the way in which Mandisa’s character spanned for three seasons whereas in the book, she commits suicide in the first book. She told the publication that the reception Mandisa got from viewers, prompted them to keep her character on for a bit longer.
“I had taken the role knowing that this is the character that dies in the first season. This is something that we knew from the word go as she also kills herself, even in the book. But because viewers loved her so much we had to keep her and in deciding to keep her, the writers explored what we could do with her, and the results were just pure magic!” she says.
In closing, Sodlaka appreciated her supporters.
“To the supporters, you guys have always believed in SouthAfrican stories. The supporters are very clear about what it is that they loveand what is true to them. And in this case, The Wife has affirmed even more so to me that South African stories are indeed superior to South Africans. It’s been a privilege. It’s been fun.”
Speaking to Showmax, Zikhona said there are some similarities between her and Mandisa.
“She’s Xhosa and I’m Xhosa; that’s all. We’re very different. I’m shy and quiet in real life, so it’s been really lovely playing somebody so loud. That’s one of my favourite things about her: her absolute imperfection. Everything about her is so wrong to a person like myself, who likes to hold back. It doesn’t matter what she sounds like; it doesn’t matter what she looks like; it doesn’t matter what her size is. Which is something that was quite a sore point for me in Season 1 because I had just had a baby and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, do I want to play this role? Shouldn’t I wait until I’m an eight again?’ Playing her has taught me to be a little bit braver.