When we first asked the Khoza brothers about the similarity in their soapie characters last year, they admitted to it but brushed it off as mere coincidence.
“If I described the character each brother plays as the oldest, hot-headed, gun-wielding, trigger happy (and incredibly gorgeous) son of a Zulu crime kingpin who would do ANYTHING to protect his family, would you be able to distinguish between Shaka and Qaphela?”
But now that the story of how each brother got their respective roles has been revealed, it really is a coincidence that The Queen’s Shaka Khoza and Isibaya’s Qhapela Ngwenya feel like one and the same person.
Speaking to Phila Tyekana of True Love, SK Khoza revealed that Shona Ferguson played a major part in getting him to audition for the role of Shaka.
“Shona Ferguson called me to audition for the role. He pushed me to be brilliant, because they had created the character with me in mind” explained SK.
As for Abdul Khoza, his journey back into TV following his success on the SABC 1 acting reality show, Class Act, has been quite a challenging one.
After the show, Abdul says he went back to Kwa-Zulu Natal and continued his life as a firefighter in order to create a stable environment for his daughter to be born into.
“I was very frustrated, but I had to make ends meet. What also tested my patience was seeing the people I entered Class Act with doing great on TV.”
The hiatus only lasted two years however and Abdul made his return to TV via the popular SABC 1 soapie Uzalo. Soon after that, Bomb Productions called to offer him the role of Bheki on The Road. Bomb Productions is also the brains behind Isibaya so Abdul’s segway into the soapie as the dark Ngwenya angel was a given. Not to say that he hasn’t earned it…
Now that he has settled back into TV, Abdul has set his sights on music. So much so that he says he has made the conscious decision not to date. Instead, he’ll be giving his all to his career and his new puppy.
SK on the other hand has a fiance and 2 daughters so forget it ladies. You’ll have to settle for fantasizing about Shaka.
Main image credit: instagram.com/skcoza