Fumani Shilubana

Fumani Shilubana is a South African actor best known for his role as Detective Dabula on the SABC3 soapie Isidingo He was previously known for his roles as Detective Nataniel in the SABC2 drama series Hillside 20062008 and for his role as Dr Mokhethi on the SABC1 soapie Generations from 20082009 Shilubana was born at Shiluvana Village in Tzaneen Limpopo In 2000 he nearly became a model but he left it all together when he went to the South African State Theatre to enquire about drama where he met Irene Mathe He obtained a Certificate in Speech and Drama with Tshwana Modern Arts Company TMAC in 2001 In 2002 he joined The South African State Theatres Development Program 52 Seasons where he meet his mentor and friend playwrightdirector Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom who taught Fumani all he knows He did his first professional play in 2003 Julius Caesar and Maru as a school set work He went on to do a number of productions with the State Theatre including Hamlet Cards Relativity township stories Telling Stories Interracial and the first installment of the trilogy Welcome to Rocksburg in 2009 Some of the plays toured Europe countries like Austria Belgium Germany UK Poland Holland and South Africa Fumani was nominated for Best Supporting Role for the play Relativity township stories at the Naledi Awards in 2006 In the same year he starred in a number of TV productions including Hillside SABC2 and Soul City SABC1 He also appeared in Death of a Queen a miniseries that was part of SABC1s Shakespeare in Mzansi strand Generations SABC1 and Muvhango SABC2 He also appeared in television commercials for Sun International Hollard Insurance and Hyundai In 2009 he was a recipient of the Mama Beka Community Award given to individuals who have made their Province better with their achievement He was the founder of Xitengile Media House a production company In 2010 Fumani appeared in the etv drama series eKasi Our Stories in the episode entitled Foreign Husband In 2011 he appeared in the episode Over My Dead Body In 2012 he featured in his first film role in the movie Zama Zama He also had a starring role as Mountain the incompetent caretaker at the retirement home who is an accident waiting to happen in the SABC3 sitcom Let Heaven Wait in 2013 In the same year he had a starring role in the Mzansi Magic miniseries Naledi and in 2014 had a starring role as Rudzani Makwarela a successful building contractor whose crooked dealings leave his family fighting for survival as he lies in a coma in the SABC2 thriller series Thola Shilubana also appeared in four Mzansi Magic Lokshin Bioskop films as the leading man Regrets 2014 Cursed 2015 Love Specialist 2015 and Battle Of The House 2015 He also had a supporting role in the miniseries Naledi in 2014 In 2015 Shilubana produced and directed his first film Khomelela in which 80 of the language spoken is Tsonga The project was designed to leave a legacy in the Tsonga movie space In the same year he guest starred on the third and final season of the Mzansi Magic soapie Zabalaza and on the channels comedy series The Mayor created by Kagiso Lediga