His very first acting role was on prime-time TV.
Before his current role on Muvhango, he was a barman on Generations.
Although the role wasn’t big, he grew into the big acting shoes in time.
When he landed his role as James Motsamai, the actor stepped into the limelight.
From 2003, Dingaan Siyabonga Khumalo has played this role and seen it through its ups and downs.
Of all the things that have gone haywire in James’ life including being chucked out of the business industry, it seems mjolo has been the most consistent.
As though the days of Doobsie, Meme and Dr Nthabeleng did not have him on his knees, the businessman is back in the midst of romantic chaos.
Recently, he has proven that polygamy does not only happen in Thohoyandou but also back in Johannesburg with his marriage to Gugu and Imani.
Read more | ‘You will forget that I’m Tswana’ – Veteran actress Mmabatho on anchoring herself for new Sotho role
But with Imani now filing for divorce after being found in bed with another man, James’ insecurities have started affecting Gugu.
Speaking to Drum about James’ mjolo diary, Dingaan says, “once you’re a character and you solve mjolo problems in a soapie, you’re [as good as] fired so I’m glad that James is still having these problems. Why do you think Brooke was on that other soapie (The Bold and The Beautiful) for so long?”
He gladly adds though that James and Dingaan are two different people who never pour into each other.
“James is James. Dingaan is Dingaan, two different people. James has his own mjolo problems, Dingaan doesn’t have those problems because Dingaan doesn’t even want mjolo.”
However, the two are similar in one thing.
“James love his kids, Dingaan loves his kids.”
In fact, the top two highlights of his acting career on Muvhango have been around his daughter Busi Motsamai who was a product of his love with Doobsie Mukwevho.
“The day that James found out that the professor was sleeping with his daughter and he went to fight him and the day that Busi died,” he lists the scenes that took a lot from him but he’s glad to have pulled off.
By virtue of being on the soapie for two decades now, Dingaan is always acknowledged as James on the streets by his supporters and hardly as Dingaan.
Although this is nothing new for actors who have played the same role for a very long time, Dingaan says, “It’s been two decades, I try to tell people that I am Dingaan but they insist on James and you know, you can’t win that war, so you let it go.”
Reflecting on the journey that has been, he says, “It’s been fantastic, it doesn’t feel like two decades though. It’s been wonderful. Of course, we’ve had our ups and downs, our inhouse fights, we’d have the SABC not having money and we’d go a few months without getting paid but the highs have been more than the lows.”
Read More | Fatal Seduction’s Nathaniel Ramabulana is ‘hella proud’ of how he pulled of Vuyo’s character
Many may wonder what has kept him going through the ups and the downs.
“The new challenges, every new script is a new challenge to me, every new mjolo is exciting and is a new challenge because now it’s a mjolo with a psycho, mjolo with a peaceful woman, mjolo with a toxic woman,” he chuckles as he shares with Drum what keeps him excited and on his feet after two decades with the long running Tshivenda soap opera.
“That’s why I still do what I do even today because every time you come on to the Muvhango set, you must remember that those actors that you work with, they are on top of their game so you can’t come there and slack,” he adds.
The Limpopo-born actor has ventured into the music space as well and may be stepping into the shoes of an entrepreneur soon. He couldn’t disclose much about the venture as it’s still in the pipeline but gave Drum a clue on it being about how he gets to maintain a healthy beard.
