There seems to be no limit to what Kabomo Vilakazi ( pictured) can do. Starting out as a poet and then a journalist, the man soon gave in to making music, a thing he should have done years ago.
With that came a lot of success in the form of gigs and award nominations, but his journey did not end there. A strong desire to act saw him star next to Seputla Sebogodi in the Mzansi Magic lokshin soapie Zabalaza. Even that wasn’t enough because he has now scripted and directed his own short film which features Sebogodi and Clint Brink.
Now, with the new year come new challenges and the multi-talented man is back, this time on Vuzu in the sitcom, Check Coast.
“I play the lead character who is basically the man that runs a Home Affairs office in a fictitious town in South Africa,” he said.
Proving to be his most challenging role yet, Vilakazi described what we should expect from his character and the plot.
“My character is the most inappropriate person you will ever meet. He is rude, lazy, xenophobic and homophobic all rolled into one,” he explained.
As a sitcom, Check Coast attempts to put a lighter spin on the messy situations usually linked to the Home Affairs.
“There are a lot of laughs that can be drawn from anyone’s experiences when they visit that department. So the writers cash in on that and also address serious issues in a satirical manner,” Vilakazi said.
Furthermore, the actor feels there is more to the sitcom than just a story about a dysfunctional government department.
“It is a metaphor to several areas of our lives in South Africa. It might be the government or it might be the school system, whatever, there are places which are run just the way we see at the Home Affairs,” he said.
To get his character right, Vilakazi did a bit of method acting by visiting a branch of Home Affairs.
“I just walked around there for an hour or so and didn’t tell anyone what I was doing. I was fascinated by the discovery that there was some sort of organised chaos. All those queues seemed to be standing still, but in all of that there was some progress. It was astonishing,” he said.
Vilakazi stars alongside Khanyi Mbau whom he’d never worked with before and he described the opportunity as surprising.
“I was very surprised by her because I hadn’t seen her act before. She works very hard and it shows in her character,” he said.
• Check Coast, next Thursday, 7pm, Vuzu (DStv Channel 116).