She practically grew up in front of the whole country on screens.
When she was first introduced as Elizabeth Thobakgale on Skeem Saam, she was a high school character who was not only an overachiever but the school principal’s one and only daughter.
Room for failure was something she never had.
In fact, she made it a point that she fights whoever stands in her way of topping the class.
One of these people who she had to battle it out with is Zamokuhle ‘Kwaito’ Seakamela and for the longest time, they were arch enemies.
Years later, they are about to tie the knot and Elizabeth, played by Amanda Manku, will officially be a Seakamela.
Even after Kwaito cheated on her with Glenda, Elizabeth was able to give love another chance. Her mother and future mother-in-law have tried to stand in the way of it but have failed to stop love from prevailing.
Given the ups and downs she has had in her love life, Amanda tells Drum that she knew that eventually, Elizabeth would find true love and be married.
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“I thought that Elizabeth will definitely find love because of the person that she is but did I think that it would be with Zamokuhle? No. I definitely did not see that one coming because of the person that Zamokuhle is; very indecisive and at some point, he also had a womaniser tag on him. I mean, he’s dated everyone – Lelo, Rachel, Glenda. As unpredictable as it was, here we are,” she says from the set of her wedding scene.
When she finally decided to give her relationship with Kwaito another chance, she made herself clear that she will not be a part of a love triangle again and that he needs to man up and do things right this time around if he really wants things to go well between them.
Within no time, Kwaito had thrown away the womaniser tag and was ready to do right by her. His starting point was giving her his bank and phone pins, but Elizabeth just wanted proven genuine intentions.
“I think it was his words that made it all easier, leading up to today. I don’t think there’s any doubts about where he’s at. You know people get married, but they are not sure… Elizabeth has no doubt at all that Zamokuhle wants to do this.”
What many might not know or remember is that she is the second person to play Elizabeth on the soapie and that this was Amanda’s first acting gig and eventually her breakthrough.
“I’ve grown with the character. It’s been beautiful to watch and play out the transitions in her life from high school to varsity, to getting her first job, to being paralysed and now getting married.”
In as much as she’s excited to be a wife, she is also going through a rough patch with her mother.
All her life, it has just been her and her mother living together and because they’ve always had each other’s backs, her mother is worried that this could be the potential end of their bond.
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Amanda says she could never leave her mother who has recently been defrauded by a con artist to feel alone hence she’ll stay emotionally available for her and probably even financially as well.
On the other side though, Elizabeth is the one that’s worried about how she’ll be received by her strict and stern mother-in-law MaNtuli especially because she has made it clear several times that she doesn’t want Elizabeth to marry into her family. If anything, she wants Glenda instead.
“Once she sees how happy Elizabeth has made Kwaito, she will kind of accept her. I am also looking forward to seeing what kind of mother-in-law she’ll be because all along, she was not really a mother-in-law. Kwaito has asked Elizabeth to even move into the new double-storey house so if that does happen and they live together, I’m hoping that it’ll be an easier transition because they’re going to be in each other’s spaces.”
“One thing about Elizabeth, she will do everything to make sure that she and Zamokuhle are at peace especially with the parents. When conflict arises, they always have each other’s back so I’m hoping that it doesn’t change.”
But with MaNtuli, you can never be too sure.
What is guaranteed though is that both Elizabeth and Amanda are lovers of love and now that Elizabeth is getting married, they will even have that in common.
