From herding cattle to starring in Scandal, Andile Sithole tells us how he rose above poverty, bullies, and more.
Born in Hammarsdale, rural KZN, 24-year-old Andile spent most of his formative years herding cattle and leading a very quiet life in the countryside. “Back home people are humble and friendlier. Here people don’t even greet you.”
He moved to Marianhill, Mpola when he was 14. “That’s when my life began,” said Andile explaining that’s where his interest for theatre originated. As part of a school project, he was cast in a play and it was during this project that he realized he liked acting. He started writing his own plays, his first being a social awareness play about crime called Crime Doesn’t Pay.
He took his plays to schools and hospices in the region and as the group expanded and more classmates joined they called themselves Youth Dreams Team. “In theatre you have to project and overact, and in TV you have to tone down your behaviour. I had to chill. But it wasn’t hard for me to adjust from theatre to TV,” he says about the transition to TV.
But all this came to a standstill when his father passed away suddenly and his mother couldn’t afford to pay his school fees. He was kicked out of school and after failing to persuade the principal to let him come back, he formed a student organization to raise awareness on the lack of access to education in rural areas. “In school they used to tease me about not being able to afford school fees. They asked me to give them R5 for protection.”
He enlisted the media’s help and his story was published in Isolezwe and a funder decided to pay his fees. But there was still the issue of tertiary education after high school, so he did odd jobs and saved some money to register for a Degree in Education at UNISA. Although he struggled financing his studies, now that he landed a permanent role on Scandal he’s able to pay his fees. “I think education should be free to all South Africans. If you are not educated life becomes harder for you.”
How did you land the role on Scandal?
I was in town one day in KZN when my cousin told me about the Scandal auditions. They were looking for someone to play Kila’s brother. So I asked my mother for R24 for the train. When I arrived, to my surprise, there were a lot of people. They were reading scripts and preparing for the audition.
I had not prepared anything. I was very nervous, but when they called me in I performed lines from my previous productions. A few weeks later they called me for another set of auditions in Joburg. I had never been to Joburg in my life – so I was terrified. After that I waited another two weeks and then I was told I got the part.
Tell us about your character Ndumiso.
Ndumiso is more or less like me. He is a very ambitious person and so am I. But I tend to do things in the correct way whereas when Ndumiso sees an opportunity, he just grabs it. He doesn’t care if it’s gonna backfire.
When you relocated to Joburg, you had no friends or family. How did you cope?
It was hard for me, I won’t lie. It was a mission getting a place here in Joburg. I didn’t even know the area well so it was hard searching for a place. I eventually found a place in Yeoville. A friend from back home gave money for rent for a couple of months.
It was so hard for me to trust someone I don’t know and to deposit money into their account. But I had to do it. The first few months were very boring, I didn’t have a TV, radio or friends. So I used to go to the soccer field in the area and watch boys play soccer.
What message do you have for young people out there?
I’m a very responsible person. I don’t drink, smoke or mess girls around. I think young people can learn a lot from my life. I think young people should draw lines and boundaries for themselves. They must not succumb to peer pressure. They should be careful of friends who may get them into trouble.
What can we expect from your character Ndumiso?
I still want to work more on Ndumiso. If he can have more challenges that he can fight and win I will be happy because people like Ndumiso will see that there are challenges in life and you can win them.
And you, what does the future hold for you?
I would like to write someday. I have lots of stories I would like to share. I would like to write about my life.
Catch Andile on Scandal Monday to Friday at 7:30PM.
