Zinhle Mabena is a popular name in South Africa at the moment. This is because the woman behind that name has risen to become one of the highly admired women in the country’s movie industry. A beautiful actress, Zinhle has appeared in a number of movies since her debut and has endeared herself to many movie fans. However, her acting talent is not the only thing that has thrust her into the limelight in South Africa lately. The actress has also been in the spotlight for her marital woes. Zinhle Mabena was married to Robert Ngwenya. Even though she initially enjoyed peace in her marriage, hell was later let loose between the couple as things fell apart with a messy divorce taking center stage.
Zinhle Mabena and Robert Ngwenya Kept Their Relationship A Secret
The exact time that Zinhle Mabena and Robert Ngwenya started dating is not certain. This is because the actress has remained tightlipped about this. In fact, she is so tightlipped that even the circumstances surrounding their first meeting and how they fell in love with each other are not clear as well.
Interestingly, even though Zinhle was famous, she made sure that when she started dating Robert she kept the romance very secret. No one in the public knew about the relationship and everyone imagines she was an eligible spinster who was the toast of her many social media followers.
Their Marriage Was A Very Private Affair
After dating in secret for a while, Zinhle Mabena and Robert Ngwenya eventually tied the knot as husband and wife in 2017. However, just like they did when they dated, the couple kept their marriage completely from public knowledge. In fact, no one knew about the marriage as no announcements were made. It was a completely private affair exclusively reserved for very close friends and family members.
Things remained this way for months until the actress herself revealed that she was a married woman. Zinhle Mabena made the revelation in a post she made on Instagram to celebrate her birthday. In that post, the actress revealed to her fans that she was celebrating her first birthday as a ‘wife’ and ‘mother’. Thus, she killed two birds with a stone and revealed two very important pieces of information about herself; that she was both married and had welcomed her first child.
However, while revealing that she was a married woman and also a mother, Zinhle did not reveal the identity of the man she was married to. Thus, she continued to keep fans guessing about who the man in her life really was.
What We Know About Zinhle Mabena’s Husband, Robert Ngwenya
After keeping fans in the dark for a while, the actress finally revealed who her husband was on Instagram and gave fans a tiny glimpse into their lives as a family. The actress revealed to her fans that her husband is a man called Robert Ngwenya. Further investigations revealed some more details about who Robert Ngwenya is.
Glimpses from his social media handles show that Ngwenya is the founder and CEO of a company called 20Elevation. The company is in the construction and landscaping business and was established in 2011. He also has a foundation aimed at helping the needy and has close ties to the top brass of the South African ruling party, the ANC. It was also revealed that Ngwenya is actually an author and philanthropist.
Even after revealing the identity of her husband, Mabena continued to keep her marital life out of the public glare and shared things that were absolutely necessary for the public to know. Because of this, very little was known about how the actress lived life with Ngwenya.
The Couple Were Blessed With Two Kids
The marriage between Zinhle Mabena and Robert Ngwenya has produced two children. The actress welcomed their first baby, a girl in 2017. However, the couple made sure they kept details about the pregnancy very secret until the child was born. Recall that the public first came to know about the child’s existence when the actress revealed, in her birthday post on Instagram, that she was both a mother and a wife in 2017.
Fast forward to almost two years later in April 2019, the actress announced her second pregnancy. By the time she made the announcement, she was almost close to putting to bed. Mabena was also featured on the cover of Mama & Papa magazine while pregnant with her second child. Eventually, she gave birth to their second child in May 2019 and announced that this time, it was a boy. However, the exact day of the month and time of birth was not revealed.
It is noteworthy that, while these two children are Zinhle Mabena’s only kids, Robert Ngwenya has had other children in previous relationships. As a matter of fact, reports have it that Ngwenya actually has three other children from another relationship.
How Things Fell Apart For Zinhle Mabena and Robert Ngwenya
Things seemed to be going well for Zinhle Mabena and Robert Ngwenya until the year 2020 when news emerged that the actress had filed for a divorce. The news shocked fans of the actress who felt her marriage had been one filled with utter bliss and was drama-free. The couple fueled the divorce reports by deleting photos of each other from their individual social media pages.
To make matters worse, the actress was arrested in February 2021 after being accused of plotting to kill her husband. Mabena was arrested after Robert Ngwenya was attacked by unknown gunmen who shot at his car while at a petrol station in Forest Hill, Centurion on January 20, 2021. The shooting was so severe that someone else lost their life. Following the incident, the actress was arrested after it was alleged that she actually hired the hitmen who came to kill her husband.
The actress was made to spend a night in a holding cell and was later charged to court for attempted murder. However, the case was thrown out by the court after it was argued that there was no evidence linking her to the crime. The actress later claimed that she was innocent of the crime and that someone was trying to ruin her good name. She also claimed that she knew who was behind her ordeal.
Why The Coupel Fell Apart
In the heat of all the drama, Robert Ngwenya released a statement claiming that he had been physically abused by his actress wife. In the statement, which he released through his publicist Priscilla Malinga, the man explained that he had even lodged a complaint with the police and had also sought a restraining order because he could not stand the physical abuse.
However, the actress also made her own statement, accusing her estranged husband of abuse. According to her, her husband was fighting her because she had decided to leave the abusive relationship. She also expressed her readiness to fight back to the end. The divorce has not been finalized but it appears that their children are currently with the actress.
The Couple Is Faced With Threat Of Homelessness
On top of their messy divorce problems, Zinhle Mabena and her estranged husband, Robert Ngwenya, also faced a serious threat of going homeless. This is because it has been reported that they could lose their R7 million house in Midrand, Johannesburg for failure to make bond repayments for the property.
Reports show that Ngwenya obtained a loan from SA Home Loans some years ago so that he could buy the massive residence. However, the man has allegedly been failing to make the R28,000 monthly bond repayments since 2020. It was also reported that Ngwenya has incurred arrears of about R200,000 as well. To make matters worse, some reports say the man has been avoiding debt collectors when they try to contact him. For this reason, the beautiful house that the couple lives in might be repossessed.
