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Israel Makoe: SA's ultimate badass

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Over the past 16 years, Israel Makoe has become the archetypal bad guy
Over the past 16 years, Israel Makoe has become the archetypal bad guy
Muntu Vilakazi

Johannesburg  -  Actor Israel Makoe is the star of new TV crime drama Z’bondiwe.

Some call him the Ghetto Professor, or GP for short, a nod to his TV role in Gaz’lam. Others just call him Ma-Orange, after the prison uniform he’s so often seen wearing.

His mom, though, calls him Dumisani, a thanks to God.

Born in Alexandra 42 years ago, Israel Makoe still hangs out in the hood, where #Trending met him for a photoshoot this week. In his 16-year acting career, he has become the most archetypal bad guy of his generation.

In fact, apart from a brief stint as a deranged prophet, Uncle Israel on Zone 14, he’s played only baddies.

On the big screen, he was Tsotsi’s father in Tsotsi. In Four Corners, he was a gangster called Joburg. Last year, he had a badass double whammy when he played gang leader Skroef in the award-winning heist thriller iNumber Number, which he followed up with Mugza, the village villain, in Hard To Get, where he hunts down the couple who stole his beloved BMW gusheshe.

But Makoe doesn’t just play bad guys, he helps create them. If you chat with producers, they tell you he often suggests his names in scripts. In iNumber Number and in his latest TV series, Z’bondiwe, he officially worked as script consultant and role developer.

'A product of his life story'

It’s easy to say that Makoe’s mastery of gangsters is a product of his life story. When he landed his breakthrough role as prison gang boss Boyza in Yizo Yizo 2, he had just been released from prison, where he served an eight-year sentence for housebreaking.

When we meet at the swanky African Pride Hotel in Melrose Arch at the launch of Z’bondiwe, he is dressed all pantsula chic in a white shirt, white pants, black pointed shoes and a black hat.

Makoe tells me his earliest memories are of an Alex in turmoil during apartheid. He recalls tear gas, school disruptions and the detention of schoolchildren.

Raised by a single mom in a household of mostly women, Makoe says he never knew his father, but his grandfather played the paternal role in his life.

“During those days, we survived on the principles of ubuntu. Money was not as important as it is today. The church played a big role in shaping my acting career, as I took part in many activities there, though at times it was difficult to choose the right path. I would participate in the political activities of the day, like any other young man growing up at the height of the struggle.”

Makoe didn’t land his Yizo role just because he had a criminal past. It was also because he had always been drawn to acting. In prison, in fact, he wrote and directed his own play, called Hayi Kabi Magenge, which featured some of the inmates and members of the Victory Sonqoba Theatre Company. The Alex-based company was headed by his mentor, Bongani Linda.

Makoe formed his own theatre group in prison, Abanqobi Drama Group.

He was discovered by the producers of Yizo Yizo during one of the first season’s many prison road shows. He made such a good impression that the role of the Nongoloza gang leader was created for him.

So, 16 years later, has Makoe given up all hope of playing the hero? He shakes his head with a smile.

“I don’t choose these roles for myself, but producers and directors seem satisfied that I do better playing a villain than I do a good guy,” he says in his gravelly voice.

iNumber Number writer-director Donovan Marsh says Makoe is “certainly one of the most interesting and colourful people I have ever worked with”.

Makoe, he says, is one of those rare actors who has a way of motivating fellow cast members, and says his insights and input are valuable on set.

Actors who have worked with him say there is never a dull moment when Makoe is around. Yet he describes himself as “a shy, simple and organised man” who loves his music, keeping fit and working with young actors when he is not rehearsing or researching.

Despite being warned by friends and family to stop accepting roles that typecast him, Makoe is unfazed.

“I do not feel typecast. For me, no role is too small or too big. The level of preparation that goes into every role is the same. I always try to make each villain or bad-guy character different from the last one. I rehearse four times a week, research each character to the fullest and keep things fresh by being with the people, listening to music and visiting my mother in Alex.”

South Africa’s baddest baddie says playing the role of the villain is also another way of educating people because, as experience has shown, “crime doesn’t pay”.

Watch the trailer here:


Z’bondiwe screens on e.tv on Tuesday at 21:00.

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