Fans of Isibaya got a first peek of the colourful traditional Zulu wedding between former cop Sibongile Mkhize (Lerato Mvelase) and patriarch Mpiyakhe Zungu (Siyabonga Thwala).
The wedding festivities continue tonight, and Mvelase teases that the audience can expect more fashion, music and dancing that will leave you feeling mushy on the inside. “It was very exciting. For any girl, whether you are getting married in real life or not, there is always the butterflies,” she says.
“Because as Lerato, I’m given an opportunity to experience what a woman getting married goes through. There is the excitement of what she’s going to wear and look like, which is really exciting.
The 36-year-old actress renowned for her other TV roles in Home Affairs, The Road and Thola says that shooting those episodes two weeks ago felt like a real wedding and everyone treated it as such.
When the actual wedding came, I got to see how beautiful our Zulu regalia really is. Everyone on that set was dressed in traditional Zulu attire,” she says.
“The men were looking like beautiful African warriors – that physical image we have always had of the man. Just seeing them looking sexy; they were dark and shining in the African sun.
“Hearing the music and people singing and dancing; everyone was just excited to be part of it. I enjoyed every second of it. The people who put the set together did an amazing job. It felt like a real wedding.
Mvelase has never been married and says she got to live vicariously through her character.
“I felt like ‘you know what Lerato? I don’t mind you getting married one day’,” she says.
“It was a beautiful experience, even if I never get married, it was just beautiful to experience what a woman getting married goes through.”
Mvelase says it has been fun playing the character, especially since she’s entering into a polygamous marriage and Mpiyakhe’s two other wives, Siphokazi Zungu (Celeste Ntuli) and Phumele Zungu (Ayanda Borotho), don’t approve of her.
“For any woman, even if you know that you are in a polygamous relationship, just the idea of the man you love giving someone else attention is not easy,” she says.
“I don’t think that for the two wives it’s about accepting this other woman, it’s about going through the emotion of there being another wife.
