Nomvelo Makhanya reflects on her nine-year journey with 'Scandal!' as Lindiwe

Actress Nomvelo Makhanya has been playing the Scandal! role of Lindiwe for nearly a decade and she's reflected on the ups and downs of the journey and what the future holds for them both.

In an interview with TshisaLIVE, Nomvelo gave herself a pat on the back for how far she's come and beamed with joy at the thought of the nine-year journey of playing the mischievous teen-turned brilliant young adult Lindiwe Ngema.

“It's crazy that I literally gave birth to this girl and yet I also grew up with her as well.”

“When I look back on some of the first episodes I did, there's been a lot of growth and it's been a great journey,” Nomvelo said.

She said every time the character faced a moment that forced her to grow, Nomvelo, the artist behind the role, had to grow as well.

“A highlight for me with Lindiwe has been watching Lindiwe grow, like the time we had the 'Credential' storyline. I think it was like my first big story on Scandal! and they were like, we are trusting you with an A-storyline and I had to add colour to her and really bring her to life,” Nomvelo said.

Ironically, when her biggest storyline aired, it was overshadowed by trolls who shifted the spotlight to her features and mocked her “big head”.

All of a sudden, the actress found herself in the middle of a cyberbullying saga — with the attention of Mzansi toggling between mental health issues and the scourge of cyber bullying — when all she wanted was for people to see the hard work she had put into her first major storyline.

“I put in all the work for that storyline and in doing all of that, I then experienced my low light, not with Lindiwe but personally, because people started looking at my physical features — which had nothing to do with the story. So then it felt like 'you guys are missing the point, you are missing the whole story now'. Instead of listening attentively to the story, now people were focusing on things that didn't even matter,” Nomvelo said as she reflected on that time in 2019.

As an actress, Nomvelo has cemented her name as one of the best Mzansi has and now the world is her stage as she shines on Netflix's I Am All Girls.

The actress said fans should look forward to more thrilling drama from Lindiwe and even more great moves from Nomvelo!