“In my whole career I never thought I’d be upstaged by a wig,” Skeem Saam actor Shoki Mmola jokes about her character Celia Kunutu’s questionable pixie hairdo.
The matronly hairstyle, regarded by many viewers as a faux pas, has even been turned into a meme on the internet. For instance, when some people are seeing flames in their lives they often tweet: “Bophelo ke wig ya Celia Kunutu [Life is tough like Celia Kunutu’s wig]”.
“I do follow what people say on social media and how annoying Celia can get,” Mmola confesses to me on a telephone interview. “Remember, I had dreadlocks for the longest time. So, I took a personal decision that had to do with me being a traditional healer that I decided to release my hair.
“So, they [Skeem Saam] felt that my natural short hair would make me look young, because Celia is a woman of a certain age.”
After 11 years playing the role on the popular SABC1 soapie, the wig will not upstage Mmola anymore after last week she was nominated at the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas). Mmola will duke it out for best actress in a soap against Cindy Swanepoel (Binnelanders) and Petronella Tshuma (Rhythm City).
“This work comes with a pinch of validation. It’s needed and fuels what we do,” Mmola admits. “I come from a generation where most of our SA series will be in Nguni languages or English.
“So, to speak on the show Khelobedu, which for the longest time has been classified as Sepedi, is a big deal. It gives pride to people that speak Khelobedu that finally people are going to know that our language exists and we are not Bapedi, but Balobedu. That was a plus for me.”
This marks Mmola’s fourth Saftas nomination throughout her colourful career that spanned for 30 years. She is hoping for a win this time, having been nominated twice for her role as Tumi in Muvhango and once as Grace Lerothodi in mini-series Death of a Queen.
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She starred opposite her now TV husband Putla Sehlapelo (Alfred Magongwa) in Death of a Queen. The 43-year-old notes that no other role has impacted her life like her tour de force performance in that show.
“I loved that story. That story brought forward so many things that I knew I had in me and put them to the forefront,” Mmola recalls.
“That was my moment of growth. Because of Grace, my ancestral calling was unleashed. The script was beautifully written and the directors were sensitive to the story. I learned a lot about Queen Modjadji, ‘Rain Queen’, that I didn’t know.”
But Mmola waited until 2013 before she could start her spiritual journey as a traditional healer. “Now I work as your traditional doctor, I’m a certified healer. I’m so much lighter because answering your ancestral calling sort of centres you,” Mmola observes.
“You get a quicker and easier understanding of things as you see them around you. People that knew me when I was younger will tell you that I was hot-headed and stubborn.”
Mmola was born and bred in Tladi, Soweto. She is the oldest of five children.
While studying chemical engineering at Wits University, Mmola was discovered by Lillian Dube after class at Carlton Centre, Johannesburg. Dube urged her to audition for upcoming Setswana drama Kgatelopele. Mmola got the role at her first audition.
After completing her chemical engineering course, fellow actor Tshepo Maseko encouraged her to study drama. She listened and enrolled at Pretoria Technikon (now Tshwane University of Technology).
“I wanted to learn the technical side of the industry. You can sit back and think talent is enough, but you won’t go far with just talent,” Mmola advises. “By studying drama, it meant I could learn the skills of writing, directing, lighting and sound. It’s for that reason there has been sustainability in my career.
“For that reason I have never struggled for work. When I wasn’t acting I will be writing, translating or cast directing. You can only get that if you have training and not blinded by fame.”
Mmola is a mother of two daughters – Oratile, 14, and Karabo, 12. She is also a gender-based violence survivor and has gone public about her abusive marriage to actor ex-husband Sello Sebotsane. Her advice to women suffering abuse is to “choose yourself first”.
“I will not be one to say walk away as soon as you see it because there are so many reasons to make a woman want to stay. There are so many challenges that forces people to stay,” Mmola says. “You are all you have and know. I’ve been there and I stayed through it to a point where I decided to choose myself and then after that, my girl.
“I stayed to a point where I thought to myself ‘Shoki, this is going to kill you unless you walk away'. Love is to live for, not to die for.”
Fact file: Shoki Mmola
Favourite food: Mogodu (tripe) and samp
Favourite TV show: Skeem Saam
Favourite actor: Dawn Thandeka King
Favourite musician: Zamajobe
Favourite emoji: Peach
Top three songs on my playlist:
Neria, by Oliver Mtukudzi
Stimela, by Hugh Masekela
Murahu, by Makhadzi
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