‘I gottoknowthattrue
lovedoesexist’
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IMAGES/OUPA
BOPAPE,
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ParamedicsarrivedquicklybutEmrys
wasdeclareddeadatthescene.Thembi
feltherworldcollapsingaroundherin
slowmotion.
“Iwasslowlydrowninginpain,”she
says.“ItfeltlikeI waslosingmymind.”
Threeterriblemonthsfolloweduntil
shedecidedtogotoIndiatogrievealone.
“I wenttothemountainstomeditate.I
realisedI’dbeenbottlingthingsupandI
neededtomournanddealwithmyloss.”
Nothavinganycontactwiththeout-
sideworldreallyhelpedher.“Icame
backfeelingbetter.”F
ORyearsEmryswasknown
onlyastherathermysterious
“MrJones”tothepublicand
Thembi’sfans.
Thecouplemetthroughmu-
tualfriendswhenEmrys,who
wasfromtheUKand 10 yearsherjunior,
wasinMzansionholiday.“Hecamewith
friendstowatchmyone-womanshow,
A WomaninWaiting,andafterwardswe
allwentoutfordrinks.Weexchanged
numbersandstartedchatting.”
Eightwhirlwindmonthslaterthecou-
pleweremarriedinCapeTown.
BeforemeetingEmrys,a business
analyst for a London-based oil company,
Thembi had no intention of settling
down. “I came from a broken family. My
parents were divorced and I didn’t have
a beautiful picture of marriage. I didn’t
want to get married.”
She had a daughter, Phumzile, from a
previous relationship but marriage to the
girl’s father was never on the cards.
But Emrys was perfect for her, givingherbothspace and support and staying
out of the limelight. “He would say he
didn’t want to be famous,” she says.
This year would’ve been their 20th
wedding anniversary. “God decided to
take him away but I’m grateful for having
had that kind of love. Through him I got
to know that true love does exist.”
Three years after his passing, the
memory of that love
still carries her and
keeps her going.
And being recog-
nised as she recent-
ly was in America “motivates me to con-
tinue contributing to the industry”.
Thembi recently performed in the ac-
claimed production of Mother to Mother
at the National Black Theatre Festival.
The play is based on Sindiwe Magona’s
novel and tells the story of the mother of
one of the men who killed American stu-
dent Amy Biehl in Gugulethu, Cape
Town, in 1993 and her struggle to come
to terms with her son’s actions.T
HEATRE has been Thembi’s
first love since she began per-
forming in the ’70s and she
has no intention of slowing
down. “I’ll act until I can’t read
the scripts anymore,” she says.
And she keeps reinventing herself too.
“I learn from the young actors. I do my
research and change with the times.”
Her evolution as a performer has
earned her plenty of prizes at home. In
2009 she received the lifetime achieve-
ment award from the CityofDurbanand
anotherfromtheArtsin 2015.Shewasalsohonoured by the
Naledi Theatre Awards in 2016.
Playing MaNdlovu in Imbewu has
been a challenge, she admits. “I’ve always
played characters similar to my person-
ality but this one is completely different.”
MaNdlovu is controlling and over-pro-
tective of her sons, Shongololo (Sandile
Dlamini) and Zimele (Tony Kgoroge).
“She has given me a platform to re-
search and look around for people who
have similar characteristics to her.”
And luckily she didn’t have to look too
far. “MaNdlovu behaves like an unmar-
ried aunt who’s too controlling and there
are people like her in all our families.”
But at home Thembi is nothing like
her character. She’s a loving mother to
Phumzile and a doting gogo to Khanyisile
(25) and Luba (16). “I
allow my daughter to
be her own person.
My job as a mother
is to support and ad-
vise her but I’m not overbearing.
“I do the same with my grandchildren,
I don’t dictate to them.”
Reflecting on ’Sgudi ’Snaysi, she recalls
that back then “African stories were writ-
tenbywhitepeoplewhodidn’tunder-
standus”.
“With’Sgudi’Snaysi,thewriterallowed
[the actors] to make the jokes relevant to
the African audience.”
The show was supposed to be a single
season of just 13 episodes, but it blew up
and it pains her that she and Don Mlan-
geni Nawa, who played Laqhasha, are the
only surviving members of the sitcom.
“All the other cast members have
passed away now. It would’ve been nice
for them to be recognised while they
were still alive, like I’ve been,” she says.
“In the US they embrace older artists.
They respect and appreciate them.
“They don’t take them for granted like
wedointhiscountry.SouthAfricacan
learna lotfromtheUSonhowtotreat
performinglegends.”LEFT: Thembi with her parents,
Margaret and Manqoba Mtshali.
RIGHT: She spends as much time
as possible with her family, dad
Manqoba, daughter Phumzile and
grandchildren Luba and Khanyisile.LEFT: Thembi plays
MaNdlovu in e.tv
drama Imbewu:
The Seed alongside
Leleti Khumalo and
Fundi Zwane.
FAR RIGHT: The
show was recently
named e.tv’s
fastest-growing
drama series.
RIGHT: Attending
this year’s Saftas.NEWS