Velaphi from isitha: the enemy Biography: Age, real name and career

Kwanda Sazi Manyathi is a 21 year old South African actor, dancer and musician. Born 2003 in uMlazi Section W, a township located south-west of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal province. Kwanda Manyathi is popularly known for portraying Velaphi on eTV drama series Isitha:The enemy.

Early life

Kwanda Manyathi is a first born followed by 3 female siblings. Both his parents have been present in his life since birth, however only he stays with his father and grandmother. His mother is not a full-time present mom and only gets to see her during holidays or weekends. 

He stated that growing up under his fathers care taught him alot about being a man and how to take good care of his family. Kwanda also stated that he considers his grandmother as his mom as he grew up spending most of his time with her other than his real mom.

Educational background 

Kwanda attended secondary school at Mafumbuka High School in uMlazi Section C where he obtained his matric certificate in 2019. After completing matric he couldn’t further his studies due to his mother not having birth certificates in possession for Kwanda and his siblings. 

In 2020 he managed to get his birth certificate followed by his ID and free to carry on with furthering his studies. But it seems like Kwanda is now looking forward to pursuing his acting career.

Acting Career

As parents always have dream careers for their children, Kwanda’s parents wished their son could have become a lawyer. Unfortunately Kwanda has a passion for acting as his acting career started when he was doing his grade 10. Leading him to choose drama instead of science.

In 2019 Kwanda started getting involved in Intuba US development as well as theatre production. He did freelancing in Intuba US development for 2 years from 2019-2021. In 2021 he also worked on a show titled All about music at the Durban playhouse which was produced by Brightness production. During his time at Durban playhouse Kwanda played William Shakespeare in a zulu vision alongside Sanele Khoza, Sphesihle Mchunu and others.

In 2022 he joined the ETV drama series titled The Black Door. Kwanda portrayes a role of Velaphi Sokhulu a son to Thenjiwe Sokhulu played by Nonkululeko Mbatha. Velaphi is born as a result of rape by a man who later became his grandmothers lover, leading him to start drinking, smoking and stealing while also getting mixed with the wrong crowd.

In a spin off from The Black Door to Isitha:The enemy, Velaphi got over the fact of finding out his father, however he was still involved in crime and gangsterism. But after finding out that he was about to be a father, Velaphi changed and left the wrong life to focus on making a better and clean living.

Motivational quote from Kwanda

“ It takes more than yourself to be the best version of yourself ”