{"id":23877,"date":"2025-07-25T15:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T13:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=23877"},"modified":"2025-07-25T15:14:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T13:14:41","slug":"amahle-khumalo-on-being-a-shebeen-queen-in-mzansi-wethus-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2025\/07\/25\/amahle-khumalo-on-being-a-shebeen-queen-in-mzansi-wethus-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"Amahle Khumalo on Being a Shebeen Queen in Mzansi Wethu’s “Homecoming”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coming to Mzansi Wethu (DStv Channel 163) from 28 July at 18:30, Homecoming<\/em> follows Zethu Hlongwane (Mpume \u201cSix\u201d Nyamane), a straight-A medical graduate who finds herself returning home to rural Bergville, KZN, with her surgical dreams in tatters.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Among a stellar cast, Amahle Khumalo (Empini<\/em>) plays young \u201cshebeen queen\u201d Mthandeni Madlala \u2013 an unusual character in reality and on screen, and, in many ways, the counterpoint to Zethu. \u201cI was quite shocked when I found out that Mthandeni runs her own shebeen,\u201d explains Khumalo. \u201cA friend and I got out of our comfort zones and spent a lot of time in shebeens in Alexandra and Soweto, taking our time ekasi not only with the shebeen queens, but also with the patrons, learning about the culture that side. I\u2019m grateful to the people who let me behind the curtain to see how a shebeen really operates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mthandeni\u2019s husband, Shwabi, is a ward councillor in Bergville who wields great power \u2013 and knows it. He\u2019s the kind of man who knows how to work a room and a budget: charming, calculating, quietly feared and a less-than-faithful spouse. He seduced the younger Mthandeni with promises, a car, a ring and a life that looked like the definition of luxury. Now, her life and everything about her are the envy of every girl in town, especially when compared to Zethu, who left to chase her dreams and came back broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think as South Africans we understand the dynamic of \u2018sugar daddies\u2019 and \u2018sugar babies\u2019 and Mthandeni is a \u2018victim\u2019 of that dynamic. As glam as she looks, she\u2019s not living a glamorous lifestyle and she\u2019s yet to be honest with herself that this isn\u2019t the life she actually wants for herself,\u201d explains Khumalo. \u201cShe knows her place and her role \u2013 when you\u2019re married to a man like Shwabi, you become his property and do what he says. Everything she thinks for herself comes second to what he\u2019s planned for her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amahle identifies with what Zethu goes through, as she also went back home in 2023 to start from scratch, reconfiguring her goals and dreams. \u201cIf you look at it, the story isn\u2019t one of failure, it\u2019s a \u2018full circle\u2019 moment for Zethu. She\u2019s a product of a community thathas always loved her; she was a top scholar at school \u2013 these people watched her grow up and everyone feels like they had a hand in helping her become a doctor,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThough her dreams were to go to Johannesburg to study and make a career in Cuba, for some reason her journey brings her back home to help those very same people who helped set her up for success. It\u2019s a beautiful story because going home and starting from scratch isn\u2019t failing. She has an amazing opportunity to take the skills she learned and utilise them back home to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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