Having to take on one of the leading roles in a prime-time telenovela has been the biggest challenge for talented Kamvelihle “Kay” Bikitsha.
Born in Mthatha but bred in KuGatyana in Willowvale, Eastern Cape, Bikitsha, 22, says she grew up around her grandmother, who used to sell sweets, and always told them she could not hand them out for free as they were a business stock.
This was when she unknowingly practised her acting skills, always crying and rolling on the floor to make the grandma feel sorry for her and at least console her with a few sweets. The grandma fell for it every time.
“I also started mimicking characters on TV, especially from local shows. The characters included personalities such as Buli from Home Affairs (Yonela Duze) and Mawande from Generations (Nambitha Mpumlwana). I used to
mimic those characters to a point where I took in their pain and I made it my pain, when I was still a still young.
“I remember when we had family gatherings my granny used to say “do what Mawande does”, and I would play my way into that character, and would wear Mawande like I knew who she was because I saw those people and those artists telling stories as authentically as they could and thought to myself that I want to have the impact that they have on people to tell powerful stories,” said Bikitsha.
To nurture the talent, in Grade 6 she was taken for drama lessons while she was at the Gonubie Primary School.
She played Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth in Grade 7, which she says was her first big role.
Bikitsha said she continued with drama and dropped it mid-high school but continued writing, directing and producing for the Xhosa Cultural Society and Ubuntu Cultural Society at Stirling High School.
This was the last time she worked on drama as she pursued a different course at the University of Johannesburg.
“I was overwhelmed when I finally auditioned for this show. I first auditioned for Nobomi a couple of times and remember getting a call that I will audition for Nozuko.
“When I went through the brief, I thought I could not do this. Even just reading the description of her, it was like “this is an unstoppable woman”.
“She felt it was overpowering and I thought I couldn’t carry her to the best of my ability because she was just something else, overpowering.
“I didn’t think that I could do her justice, I didn’t think that I could be as authentic as I could because I was already scared to play her, scared of her as a character.
“I was even surprised that I got the Nozuko role because I was nervous and sweating in the audition room.
Nothing like the other auditions,” she said.
However, she said she prayed and felt that God gave her a challenge that keeps making her better.
Now, the youngest actress on Gqeberha: The Empire plays Nozuko Mxenge, the loving and ambitious third wife to the wealthy Luzuko on the show.
Bikitsha said her role must have been the most nerve-wrecking experience for her as she felt playing a character six years older than her would be a hassle for her, especially considering that she characterises someone who is deeply in love and facing womanly issues that she has not faced, yet.
She shares the stage with some of the industry’s big names, including Zikhona Sodlaka and Zandile Msutwana, her brother’s wives on the telenovela.
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