The much anticipated Coming to America 2 did not disappoint at the box office. Nomzamo Mbatha appeared alongside Eddie Murphy in the follow-up to 1988’s Coming to America. The sequel brought back many of the movie’s original actors like Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones. While new actors include Wesley Snipes, Kiki Layne, Leslie Jones, Jermaine Fowler, who plays King Akeem’s son, and Mbatha as a courtier.
Photo Credit: Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon Studios
Who is Nomzamo Mbatha?
Mbatha is a South African television personality, actress, human rights activist, and businesswoman. While Mbatha’s role in Zamunda was centered around the ancient laws that refuse to acknowledge women as rulers, she believes that the plot can help African women see the brighter part of changing narratives.
When Mbatha found out that she was going to be in the film, she was happy because she is not from a wealthy background. However, she has been able to break the mould and believes she is a representative of that. Mbatha believes that the younger ladies in Africa see themselves as visible and can achieve any dream they set for themselves. She wants more doors to be opened for women and girls on the continent.
She believes that her role as a powerful and royal figure in the movie can change how people move and show up in the world. The original Coming to America played this role in the ’80s because it gave Africans another dimension in the world. When cameras are not chasing Mbatha on movie locations, she is busy with other things. She runs a non-profit foundation that takes care of underprivileged young people. She hopes that the pre-existing narratives surrounding African women would be eliminated in the next decade.
Mbatha said that every decade, we see women who become torchbearers in changing the way the world looks at women, especially African women. The actress works with the UN and goes into refugee camps and wherever she visits, she discovers that women are used as weapons of war, while young girls become sexually violated. The millions of kids born in such situations are products of that.
The Future
Mbatha believes that there are women who are hungry to change the narrative in Africa, and they are fighting to make things better for other women. She said that music and films are some of the mediums to give women the voices they deserve.
Today, the door to changing the African women’s narration is wide open and Mbatha is one of those at the forefront of that change. Mbatha accepts that things are not yet where they should be, but progress is made.
Change is slow just like in the movie, where she was the black fairy queen, but people are noticing the positive sides of women when it comes to transformation. The message behind the movie is about equality.
