From full house to funerals

The shooting of little Ndumiso (Moeketsi Mkhabela) and his mother Mandisa’s (Zikhona Sodlaka) suicide in Season 3 of The Wife shook viewers from all corners of the country.

As new episodes of Showmax’s hit drama series drop each Thursday, we send up a prayer for the Zulu brothers. “Now that they are fewer, it’s no longer the same,” says Swelihle Luthuli, who plays the youngest sibling, Ntsika.

“Ntsika has lost trust in his older brothers and their leadership. He feels lonely. I think he misses his parents. He wonders, ‘What would my life be like if my parents were still alive?’” adds Swelihle, who tells us more about his character and the Zulu brothers’ dynamic.

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Karma kills

In a short space of time, the orphaned Zulu brothers have lost one family member after another. In the first season, Mpande (Ishmauel Songo) was murdered, and Nqoba (Abdul Khoza) was mysteriously killed in Season 3. Their eldest brother, Nkosana (Mondli Makhoba) and his wife Zandile (Khanyi Mbau) fled the country and recently, the brothers laid Nqoba’s wife, Mandisa and their son, Ndumiso to rest.

Over the past episodes, Ntsika has shown what happens when a family buries their grief before its time. A cleansing ritual is not enough. “When Ndumiso died, it totally took Ntsika over. What’s worse is that everyone [in the family] is going through their own thing – some are dead, and others have gone overseas. It kills him a lot,” explains Swelihle. “Ntsika thinks, “The family is dodgy. We’re selling guns to people, and now [the deaths] are coming back to us as karma.”

Ntsika’s wish

Swelihle explains that his character longs to be seen by his brothers – not as the baby of the family but as a business partner. “Ntsika wants to contribute in a positive way by doing positive things,” says the actor. “It turns him off when [his brother] Mqoqi (Thulane Shange) contributes to the family, but in a negative way, doing dodgy things. He is worried about Mqoqi because what if he also dies?”

If Ntsika could have one wish for 2023, Swelihle says, “He wishes that his family can be together and enjoy being a family. He wants peace.”

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