Secrets, umthwalo and Sunday Nkabinde: Get to know Mzansi Magic’s new drama ‘Inyosi’

Mzansi Magic's new family drama 'Inyosi' premieres on 2 November, with Dawn Thandeka King as matriarch and a fresh crop of young talent beside her. Mzansi Magic has announced Inyosi, a 13-part family drama that puts a new generation of actors opposite one of the country’s most established leading ladies. Dawn Thandeka King leads the ensemble as the matriarch at the heart of the story. Around her is a young cast, including newcomer Kethukuthula Jele, who makes her television debut. The drama premieres on Monday, 2 November at 8pm on DStv channel 161. A matriarch, three children and a crown to fight for King plays Mabongi Mageza-Ngcobo, a widow, successful businesswoman and CEO of Ekhaya Events and Catering. She is also a devoted mother of three. Her children are Nsika (Kwanele Mkhize), Kwanele (Toka Mtabane) and Samukelo (Nandipa Khubone). When questions about who will lead the family business next begin to surface, the siblings see their chance. Inyosi follows these characters as each sets out to prove they are worthy of taking over from their mother. Meet the young cast Kethukuthula Jele (Buhle) makes her television debut. Jele plays Buhle, the character through whom the mystery of Mabongi’s past begins to unravel. Kwanele Mkhize (Nsika) is familiar to Mzansi Magic thanks to Shaka iLembe. He joined the historical drama in its second season as Mbopha kaSithayi. Toka Mtabane (Kwanele) made his screen debut as a teenager in the 2016 film Five Fingers for Marseilles and broke through as the popular, impulsive Khaya Jali in the teen drama Youngins. The Eastern Cape-born actor has since been singled out by the show’s casting director as a “no-brainer” after a confident, singing audition. Nandipa Khubone (Samukelo) first came to prominence on Gomora. The telenovela was her debut role, playing Sibongile; the Durban-born actress is also an alumna of the New York Film Academy. The established names in the room Alongside King, the Inyosi cast includes two familiar faces. Thembsie Matu is a veteran best known as Petronella on The Queen. That role won her Favourite Actress at the DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards after more than three decades in the industry, a career that began under playwright Gibson Kente. Kwenzo Ngcobo is best known as Qhawe Zulu in The Wife, and Alex Shabane in the Netflix thriller Soon Comes the Night. He won Best Actor at the 2025 Simon Mabhunu Sabela KZN Film and Television Awards for playing Nhloso Gasa on e.tv drama Scandal!. King herself is no stranger to Mzansi Magic, having appeared in DiepCity, Lockdown as well as Shaka iLembe. The secret at the centre of ‘Inyosi’ Dawn Thandeka King leads the cast of Mzansi Magic’s Inyosi as matriarch Mabongi Mageza-Ngcobo. Picture: Supplied/Mzansi Magic Thirty years ago, a young Mabongi and her family went to tell the family of the man she loved, Bheki, that she was pregnant. Bheki refused to acknowledge the child and said he would marry another woman, someone he considered “pure and untainted”. The rejection devastated Mabongi. She had worked hard to preserve her purity and had taken part in umhlanga, a rite of passage in which young women are taught to preserve their virtue through traditional song, dance and mentorship before marriage. The young women she had attended umhlanga with turned their backs on her. Hurt and desperate, Mabongi turned to Sunday Nkabinde (Zakhele Msibi, who famously played the same role on Isibaya), a powerful spiritual healer, in search of umuthi wenhlanhla to win back her lover. He offered her an isithwalo that promised to change her fortunes instead. She accepted, unaware that the choice would echo for generations. Those echoes reach Buhle, who begins to investigate a distinctive honeycomb-shaped mark on her back, linked to a decades-old secret that is only now coming to light. The question hanging over the drama: what are the terms of Mabongi’s agreement, and what will she be forced to sacrifice in her quest to escape poverty, humiliation and a life of insignificance? Inyosi premieres on Monday, 2 November at 8 pm on Mzansi Magic (DStv channel 161).