He is a seasoned actor and has been in the acting industry for over 30 years. Hlomla Dandala (48) who plays one of the most critical roles on telenovela The River was announced as one of the actors who would be leaving the show along with, Tango Ncetezi and Lawrence Maleka, while Lunathi Mampofu has taken a break.

NEEDING CHANGE?

In a recent interview with Newzroom Afrika, Hlomla explains the reasons behind him exiting the show and that it had nothing to do with some of the social media speculations that were made about money and conflict. "It was time,' he says. "Generally, what tends to happen with any career is If you stay in any character for long enough, it is difficult to pivot away from it or to be perceived in any other way,' he adds.
"If you've established yourself as a leading man and you play something that establishes you to be quite weaker and If you don't get out of that fast enough it gets harder and harder over time.'
Hlomla says he was happy with the character of a Police Commissioner, a family man, and a husband who was married to a powerful mine owner Lindiwe Dlamini,played by Sindi Dlathu.
"I was happy with the character for a long long time and after a while, we started growing further apart instead of being creative and I said, wait a minute, I need to manage my career and part of that is that , I don't want to get locked into a situation that I don't want to be in,'he says.
"It starts to damage your future as an actor."

VIEWERS WILL ADJUST

?His role is one of the leads on The River, meaning it may take time for viewers to adjust. "The producers were generous enough and understood what I was saying,' he says.
"They were stuck between a rock and a hard place because the structure of the show requires that one is duped and the other is duping for the structure of the show. But then you have an actor who is being duped for five years and it starts affecting me as an actor.'
Hlomla says Zweli's naivety was starting to get to him. "I have always carried that strategy,' he says.
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PLAYING DIFFERENT ROLES

His latest role on Netflix's original series, Justice Served is about a band of freedom fighters, who invade the trial of a white police officer who shot a black man and a hostage situation unfolds on screens nationwide. Hlomla reflects on the two contracting roles on The River and Azania Maqoma on Justice Served.
"It was hard. It took a great deal of courage,' he says.
"If you look at some of the things we say there, they are incredibly resonant and true. It took a great deal of courage. But we are a country based on protecting theatre and there's no way it can't translate to the big and small screen.'
Hlomla says the way he prepares for Zweli on The River and any other role is different.
"Justice Served took much longer to prepare. The exercises are different. It's physically more demanding. When an actor says I need to stretch, they are saying, they need to do different exercises.'