Hlomla Dandala on language, identity and being called 'coconut' on the set of 'Isidingo: The Need'

South African actor Hlomla Dandala has opened up about the social and cultural tensions behind the scenes of the iconic soapie Isidingo: The Need, highlighting how a single word - “coconut” - shaped his early experiences on set.

In a discussion with award-winning actress Dawn Thandeka King on the “Inside Story Network” YouTube series, in an episode titled Inside Acting, Dandala candidly explored identity, acting and the subtle ways post-apartheid attitudes can persist in everyday interactions.

Dandala explained how his multilingual skills - speaking Afrikaans, English, IsiXhosa, Sesotho and IsiZulu - became both a strength and a source of isolation. “In South Africa, if you do one language, you can't speak the other ones. Yeah, that's the rule. If you do something in English, they say, ‘ah he doesn’t know indigenous languages’. And then you go and do something in isiZulu and they say ‘oh akasazi isiNgisi akasazi isiXhosa’ (he doesn’t know English or isiXhosa) and I’ve always been battling that,” he said.

Reflecting on his time on Isidingo, Dandala described how he landed the role of Derek Nyathi after initially auditioning for another character. But it was the social dynamics on set that left a lasting impression.

“The interesting thing is, then the experience of it. With the guys, yes, we were working together, but they had this thing and they would call me oyimbo, which basically means coconut,” he revealed.

The term “coconut” refers to someone who is “black on the outside” but “white on the inside.” It became common in South Africa during the final days of apartheid when black children began attending formerly white schools. While sometimes seen as “non-white,” at worst, the label implies assimilation into white culture, casting the individual as an “Uncle Tom” or “agent of whiteness.”

Dandala said the label contributed to his feelings of isolation. “I was very much alone throughout 'Isidingo'. Very much alone. During lunch, you know how set lunches are: white folk eat by themselves, black folk eat by themselves, and so I was a black folk that couldn't sit with black folk because I spoke ‘that English’. And I couldn't quite sit with the white folk because white folk are doing their thing. And so I spent the bulk (of my time on 'Isidingo') sitting alone. Any time I would engage, I’d be chased away and told to leave because I was a coconut.”

Isidingo: The Need aired from 1998 to 2020, exploring life, power and politics in the fictional mining town of Horizon Deep. The show tackled sensitive topics like HIV/AIDS, interracial relationships  and sexual harassment, becoming a socially conscious soapie that reflected South Africa’s evolving society.

After Isidingo, Dandala’s career continued to flourish. He played Jacob Makhubu in Jacob's Cross, hosted All You Need Is Love from 2002 to 2003 and appeared in Rockville, Scandal! and The River alongside Sindi Dlathu.

Dandala’s reflections reveal the continued resonance of cultural labels like “coconut,” reminding audiences that while South Africa has changed, the legacy of apartheid-era attitudes can linger, sometimes in unexpected places, even on the set of a television soapie.