House of Zwide’s Linda Nxumalo on life’s challenges and successes.

After experiencing the hardships of homelessness and the constant struggle to make ends meet, Linda Nxumalo has finally achieved great success in his acting career.

Little did he know, during his time at the Durban University of Technology, that he would eventually find himself in the spotlight of House of Zwide, a soapie that has skyrocketed to become one of the most-watched shows in South Africa.Now Linda, also known as Soka on the show, tells Drum that he has no interest in dwelling on the challenges he faced when he first relocated to the City of Gold.

“I finished school in 2018 and the following year, I moved to Joburg.But before I moved, I had chatted to a friend, who had promised me a place to stay, but when I got here, he laughed at me. I had to look for alternative accommodation,” the heartthrob recalls.

In a short amount of time, he was able to find a place to stay with a person he knew, and he also managed to secure a job at a retail shop in order to maintain his financial stability.

“I was earning R2 500 and my rent was R1 500, so that wasn’t ideal, I was barely surviving. I had no choice, but to push. It wasn’t enough for me to take care of my family, who depend on me,” he said

With a never-ending string of castings, he found himself at an audition for Shaka iLembe.
He managed to reach the second call-ups , only to be informed that Bomb Productions, the same production company, was working on another show. So, he decided to give it a shot.

“I went for chemistry tests and I passed and that’s how I got to join House of Zwide, which is about to go into season four.I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything. I can’t live without money, because I have a large family that looks to me to take of it,” he says with a chuckle

In order to ensure he never faces financial hardship again, Linda has taken the initiative to establish her own deep cleaning company, PureClean.”We do everything pertaining to deep cleaning, we clean things like carpets, couches and we do it in the comfort of your own home.At the moment, we employ two people, because we are still seeking business,” he explained