Skeem Saam kicked off its first episode of season 12 with the recasting of Thabo ‘Tbose’ Maputla last night as Hungani Ndlovu.
The character Thabo Maputla was previously played by Cornet Mamabolo who went to overseas to pursue his dream career, leaving behind his wife Mapitsi and son Pitsi but is now forced to return to Turfloop under unfavourable circumstances to attend to his son as he’s laying flat on the hospital bed fighting for his life.
“Stepping into a recast type of role is tremendously – the amount of pressure is just like beyond,” said Ndlovu in an interview with Power FM. “Cornet did an amazing job at playing Those for over 11 years,” he added.
Cornet Mamabolo’s loyal fans are not impressed with the new Those Maputla:
@tiyani_itGroup replied: “This is not the Thabo we ordered.”
@TumeloNkhabany7 added: “He doesn’t even come closer to the replica of what we’ve ordered.”
@justnoxie commented: “Close enough to the old Those although character swap is not nice.”
@Sthi__ wrote: “As we prepare to take out our dictionaries.”
@g_mapaya replied: “Skeem Saam is no longer a proud Sepedi series. It must just end and give way to some new Sepedi series.”
Ndlovu says he’s not here to replace Cornet and he could never, in fact it’s highly impossible, he believes that the role was given to him simply because Skeem Saam’s storyline wanted to give the audience and actors something new to engage with.
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