Zinhle Mabena is a 31-year-old South African actress and philanthropist. She is best known for playing the role of Sihle in the Mzansi Magic telenovela which turned soap opera, isiBaya. She also became popular in the 2000s for playing the role of Busi Thwala, Bongani’s daughter, in the SABC1 drama series Mtunzini.com, from 2006-2009.
After a series of a dramatic real life experience which was linked to her marriage to Robert ‘Mugabe’ Ngwenya, Zinhle took a break from acting for almost one year. When she returned on small screens she had landed a role of playing Ntombi on e.tv drama series House of Zwide alongside Khaya Dladla.
Biography Facts
Full name: Zinhle Mabena Ngwenya
Gender: Female
Date of birth: June 8, 1991 (age- 31 years old)
Place of birth: Dawn Park, East Rand, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province
Occupation: Actress, Philanthropist
TV Shows: Isibaya, Mtunzini.com, House of Zwide
Marital status: Married
Spouse: Robert Mugabe Ngwenya (div- 2016 to 2021)
Early life of Zinhle Mabena
Zinhle Mabena Ngwenya was born in Dawn Park in East Rand in Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng province in South Africa on the 8th of June in 1991. Her mother is Zulu and her father is Ndebele but she is more fluent in isiZulu.
Pertaining her childhood and education, not so much is online for readers to know. But she must have obtained her primary and secondary school education in East Rand. After that she attended the University of Johannesburg where she probably obtained arts related degree.
Acting career of Zinhle Mabena
Zinhle started her acting career more than a decade ago when she landed a role of playing Busi Thwala, Bongani’s daughter, in the SABC1 drama series Mtunzini.com, from 2006-2009. In 2012 she appeared in an episode of the e.tv anthology series eKasi: Our Stories in the episode entitled ” My Brother’s Plan”, about a young woman who – when her dream of going to university fails – helps her no-good brother rob a local shebeen.
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In 2013 she bagged a starring role of playing Lindi in the television miniseries Remix, which aired on Mzansi Magic. She also starred as Sihle in Mzansi Magic drama series Isibaya.
Sihle was a villainous character who conspired, lied, and schemed against others for her selfish gain. She also had to cut short her university studies to return to the Thukela Valley after the mysterious death of her father. [ ¹]
Other roles and returning to acting of Zinhle Mabena Ngwenya
Other television serial roles include playing Zodwa Zakafu in season one of Jozi-H then she played Sphesihle in the second season of intersexions. In 2022 she returned on small screen acting after taking a break for nearly one year because of the scandals and allegations she faced in February 2021. Her return was welcomed with a role of portraying Ntombi on e.tv drama series House of Zwide.
“Ntombi is from Umlazi in KwaZulu Natal. She is working in the corporate world and doing very well for herself. She has a child with Lazarus, a queer fashion designer played by Khaya Dladla. She comes into the show trying to create a relationship with Laz and his son,” she says. [ ²]
In 2011 she appeared in Winnie Mandela drama which chronicles the life of Winnie Mandela from her childhood through her marriage and her husband’s incarceration. [ ³]
Personal life and marriage to Robert Mugabe Ngwenya
Zinhle Mabena was married to a politician and philanthropist Robert Mugabe Ngwenya as many calls her ex- husband. Between 2020 and 2021, Zinhle’s real life was filled with drama after drama. Her marriage was always on the news now and again filled with assassinations, accusations, allegations and arrests. What was happening is that, there were people who were trying to kill her husband and they would threaten both of them in WhatsApp messages.
In January 2021, her ex husband was nearly assassinated while driving his daughter’s car. He realized that he was folliwed and when he approached a stop sign car junction, two cars which were following him, a BMW and VW golf approached him and started shooting at him. He drove off and his car fell into a ditch and the assassins set his car ablaze but luck enough he was pulled out by other motorists.
In February 2022, his wife was arrested for attempted murder on her husband. It was believed she was the mastermind behind her husband’s assassination attempt but was latter released because of lack of evidence. Her lawyer released a statement after she wasn’t found guilty at Pretoria Magistrate Court in Tshwane.
Her lawyer’s statement read;
“I act on behalf of Zinhle and confirm that she was unlawfully taken into custody yesterday but is now a free woman after the NPA declined to place the matter on the roll, because of the preposterous nature of the allegations against our client.” [ ⁴]
And Zinhle claimed that certain individuals were trying to ruin her reputation and certain individuals who she knew were behind it. The couple divorced in 2021 after all this. After all these allegations, she took a break from acting only to return in March 2022.
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