Promotion for the series has been long-going as it started as early as December 2022. For the most part, lead and executive producer Nomzamo Mbatha, who is set to play Queen Nandi, has been at the forefront of promoting the joint venture with Bomb Production.
As such, it seems that it was only recently, that it was highlighted that acclaimed young actor Lemogang Tsipa, who is Motswana of tribal origin, is set to play the adult version of the most prolific Zulu king.
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Is a SeSotho-speaking Shaka Zulu a problem?
Lemogang Tsipa has made waves in the three years and counting since he broke into the mainstream of the film and television industry locally. This is as he was first reported by the publication as:
“The young actor has impressed a lot of people since appearing on iSthembisoand some women have taken a great liking to Lemogang as well.
If there's one thing people have come to appreciate about Lemogang is his passion for acting and how seriously he takes his craft.
In 2017 he acted in a local movie titled Beyond The River which received a lot of raving reviews.”
However, it seems as excitement has been piqued ahead of the premiere episode of the retelling of the Shaka Zulu story. One social media user took to the timeline to highlight that Lemogang was actually Motswana of tribal origin rather than being umZulu.
The post made it seem like it was a dig to have a SeSotho mother-tongue actor play the legendary Zulu King. However, in the comments and replies on the post, it seems that South Africans came to the defence of the actor.
Terrance Howard Lawrence fishbourne Danny glover Iyooh, the list goes on, but because we kiss western ass, it's ohk and we cheered. 😐🚮
More so as it came to light that the social media user who brought up the matter was actually from Zimbabwe. As such, it seems for the most part, South Africans were making it clear that tribalism in the country is not as rife as the narrative has been continually perpetuated.
Jokes aside, from the outside of the club, I don't think there's an issue with people of different ethnicities playing a character of a certain ethnicity, but I think as one of the main cultural figures of Zulu people, Shaka should've been played by a Zulu person. Ek beklei nie
Not only that, but it was made clear that for most South Africans, original Shaka Zulu lead actor Henry Cele will always be the epitome of the Zulu king. As such, anyone else who steps into the role is only attempting to reach the same iconography status as Cele did playing the character.
The original Shaka Zulu. He set the bar so high. Any1 trying to replace him will just look ridiculous. There are even statues of Shaka erected using Henry Cele's face pic.twitter.com/O69Oo3cwbn
