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The success of Uthando neS'thembu gave birth to Izingane Zes’thembu, which is centres on Abongwe and her siblings.
Abongwe Mseleku opened up about life in the limlight. Picture: abongwe_mseleku_/Instagram
Like a handful of young people, life away from home at varsity forced Abongwe Mseleku to learn to cook.
The film student said her forced interest in food started in 2023 during her first year.
“I spent the whole year eating wraps and some weird combos I’ve never seen, not because the food wasn’t there, but because I didn’t know what to do with the food. So from that, the teaching myself how to cook grew,” Abongwe shares with The Citizen.
She now shares her journey on her social media accounts whenever she prepares a meal.
“I also decided to take this journey to social media as a way of motivation to keep trying and also get advice from other people that hopefully know how to cook.”
She says she’s never considered having a cooking show.
“…But it’s something I’d definitely like to explore as my skill polishes more and more. ‘Masterchef Mthombeni’ Amen Amen Amen”
Abongwe is the child of Musa Mseleku, an entrepreneur turned reality TV personality. In recent years, the latter has gained fame and success through his reality TV show, Uthando neS’thembu.
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Dealing with the limelight
The success of Uthando neS’thembu gave birth to Izingane Zes’thembu, which is centred on Abongwe and her siblings and how they deal with being children born into a polygamous marriage.
The Mseleku siblings were thrust into the spotlight by their father, a media personality. Abongwe says the limelight has become less stressful with time.
“I got used to it, obviously. At this current moment and age, I don’t find it that stressful anymore; however, sometimes I do think it comes with a lot of pressure, as people are always obviously watching. Even when you think no one is watching, they are,” she says.
Being under the spotlight has its positives and negatives, and it was a case of the former for Abongwe when she came out to her family as lesbian.
“Social media initially opened the door to this conversation for me, practically did all the work,” she says.
Abongwe says she didn’t have a chance to come out to her family because they learnt of it on social media or through family friends.
“…therefore I wasn’t given the opportunity to do so myself. To a certain extent, that made my job very easy cause it was already out there, so yes, the fame made it easy for me to speak about my sexuality with my family.”
Izingane Zes’thembu is in its third season after making its premiere earlier this month.
“This season, I think the way we moved around each other as siblings and as a group stood out to me,” shares Abongwe.
“From the fun times, to the tense times and to the confrontations? I saw so much from each individual.”
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