By Gen Terblanche8 August 2025

Celebrate Vinette Ebrahim in 10 roles on Showmax

Vinette Ebrahim has been a welcome guest in South African homes over 35 years, with roles in classic series like Barney Barnato, Die Songkring, and Meeulanders. Ever since she played Charmaine Meintjies (née Beukes) and her twin sister Vivian in the long-running soapie 7de Laan, she’s practically been our honorary mother.

This August in Women’s Month, Vinette is one of three South African legends who’re being celebrated with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 2025 Silweskerm Festival – along with filmmaker and comedian Leon Schuster (Frank & Fearless, Mr Bones 3: Son of Bones), and producer Marida Swanepoel, one of the founders of DStv’s first Afrikaans channel, kykNET.

The kykNET Silwerskerm Awards for Film and Television will air on kykNET (DStv Channel 144) on Sunday, 24 August at 7PM. But while you wait to cheer on Vinette, we’ve picked out 10 shows and movies that showcase her warmth, charisma, and range.

Vinette’s quick links

Vinette Ebrahimin 10 roles

1. Mercia in Skemerdans

Amy Jephta and Ephraim Gordon’s Showmax Original neo noir crime thriller series Skemerdans takes us inside the Cape Flats’ club and music scene (locals will recognise the real-life Voortrekker road and Rylands’ Club Galaxy locations). The mysterious murder of Glenn Fortune (Kevin Smith), owner of The Oasis jazz club, kicks off a power struggle, as Glenn’s mother, the formidable family matriarch Mercia Fortune (Vinette), becomes ruthless in her efforts to keep the family and the business together.

By day, Mercia is the backbone of the community, a church aunty who’s the voice for fairness and justice. After dark, though, beware. You don’t cross Mercia in a deal and live to brag about it. And thanks to Vinette’s grounded performance and authority, we believe it.

Binge Skemerdans

2. Bybie in Koek

Silwerskerm-winning Showmax Original crime comedy series Koek sees pampered Cape Town housewife Christelle Smit (Cindy Swanepoel) caught up in the body glitter and stripper heels life after her efforts to expose her husband’s affair land her in debt with the devious, leopard print-bedecked owner of club Koeksusters, Moekie Koekemoer (Sandra Prinsloo), who has a side hustle as a mobster and black market organ dealer.

You won’t see Vinette on the pole, though! She plays furious Tannie Bybie, who ignites a community decency movement against Koeksusters after her husband Sarel (Cedwyn Joel) has a heart attack during a lap dance.

Binge Koek

3. Aisha in Barakat

Amy Jephta’s critically acclaimed, lively comedy-drama was the first-ever Afrikaans feature film centred in a Muslim community. Widowed matriarch Aisha Davids (Vinette) tells a few fibs to call her dysfunctional family together to set aside their differences and celebrate Eid-al-Fitr together. But dinner is not all that’s on the table … Aisha is also looking to introduce the new man in her life, Dr Albertus (Lesley Fong), who’s not Muslim. She might have found the only topic that her four chalk-and-cheese sons agree on – businessman Zaid (Mortimer Williams); expectant dad Zunaid (Joey Rasdien); womaniser Nur (Danny Ross); and teacher Yaseen (Keeno Lee Hector) – but they’ll be united against Albertus as they scheme together.

Vinette lets Aisha’s warmth, dignity and humour shine through in both her accepting relationships with her children, and her happiness with her new man – both of which make her sons’ antics seem childish. But are you ever really an adult under your mother’s roof?

Stream Barakat

4. Vera Warren in Lioness Season 2

Not even faking his own death can stop fraudster Adrian Hugo’s (Jacques Bessenger) trail of destruction. In Lioness Season 1, his activities stuck his “widow” Samantha (Shannon Esra) behind bars, and the season ended with Adrian’s second death … this time for real. But while he was on the run, Adrian helped himself to a second family, marrying nursery school teacher Bianca Curtis (Carla Classen). Bianca’s ice queen mother Vera Warren (Vinette Ebrahim) wants to get to the bottom of where Adrian has scarpered off to – since he left her taking care of Bianca and their two children … which is exactly what she expected of this sus son-in-law.

Vinette switches out her usual warmth for Vera’s aloof and distant nature, which has fractured her family and sent them looking for love in the wrong places. But she is also able to humble herself, ask for forgiveness, and forgive those who hurt her in return.

Binge Lioness Season 1-2

5. Denise in Swirl

Swirl was writer-director Quanita Adams’ first-ever feature film, and it’s a love letter to hair on the Cape Flats that hinges on her signature humour and sharp perception. Quanita focuses her lens on the coloured community, and the way that politics, friendship, femininity, identity, vanity, fashion and beauty make hair anything but a cut-and-dried topic. In the story, differing views on what good hair is and how to wear it unite and divide hairdresser Elaine Williams (Chanelle Davids), her demanding mother Sylvia (Ilse Klink), and loving grandmother Constance (Shaleen Surtie Richards).

Vinette plays Elaine’s mentor, elegant salon owner Denise, who becomes Elaine’s snooty rival and a stumbling block in her path to launching her own salon and career after she overhears Elaine’s big dreams and decides to cut her down to size.

Stream Swirl

6. Valencia in Diepe Waters Season 2

It’s sink or swim in this telenovela centred on the Swartmarlyne swimming club, run by the Swarts family patriarch Gys Swarts (Justin Strydom), his new wife Meghan (Lea Vivier), and his sons Rossouw (Altus Theart) and Jacques (Werner Coester). Along with scouting out new talent and training for competitions, the fiercely competitive Swarts family turn their win-at-all-costs mentality against one another as they fight for control of the club.

Vinette joins the show in Season 2 as Valencia, mother of cheerful local coffee shop owner Lettie Adonis (Stephanie Baartman). Valencia throws a spanner in the works when she meets Lettie’s love Henry (Stiaan Bruwer) and her over-the-top tastes and well-intentioned meddling – including demanding that Henry, who’s balding, wear a wig for their engagement photos – turn the pair’s wedding preparations into a farce.

Binge Diepe Waters Season 1-2

7. Marie Fortune in Legacy Season 2

Murder, ambition and family drama form the core of this telenovela centred on the billionaire lives of the Price family, and the succession battle for control of the family business empire, Legacy Investment, after patriarch Sebastian Price (Deon Lotz) steps down … then “steps off a cliff”. His murder sparks a battle between his ambitious oldest daughter Felicity (Mary-Anne Barlow), his devoted second wife Dineo (Kgomotso Christopher), and his ex-wife, Legacy Investments co-founder Angelique (Michelle Botes).

Legacy’s corporate world is Very Serious Business, so Vinette provides some much-needed comic relief when she appears in Season 2 as eccentric secretary and unofficial office mom Marie Fortune. Marie has all the warmth that the Price children craved growing up, along with an arresting turn of phrase and a stock of office-friendly pretty pink outfits. We won’t talk about her computer skills, okay?

Binge Legacy Season 1-2

8. Franci April in Spoorloos Season 3: Steynhof

Each season of this anthology mystery thriller series focuses on a different missing persons case. In Season 3, two people are found dead the night that baby Rochelle disappears from Steynhof, a farm in the Northern Cape, along with her carer, Liena April (Annebell Kohl). Fifteen years later, schoolgirl Adri Erasmus (Jane De Wet) realises that her “mom”, Therese van Tonder (Franci Swanepoel), has no record of her birth, and she and a schoolmate play detective. But the truth about the night of the murder has become more dangerous than ever because that missing baby is the official heir to Steynhof.

Vinette brings out her inner lioness to play Franci April, protective mother to Liena, and to the Steyns’ gardener, Simon (Wayne van Rooyen), who has his own reasons to cling to secrecy. Wayne was the head writer and director of Spoorloos Season 3: Steynhof, and also played Charmaine’s adopted son Errol in 7de Laan.

Binge Spoorloos Season 1-4

9. Vida in Binnelanders

This long-running telenovela takes us inside the business and family drama surrounding the staff and owners of Pretoria’s fictional Binneland Clinic, run with an iron fist by At Koster (Hans Strydom).

Vinette joined Binnelanders in its 2019/2020 season to play Vida, the mother of witty, fun-loving paramedic Danny Jantjies (played by the late Bradley Olivier). Unlike Danny, though, Vida isn’t dedicated to saving lives. On the surface, she looks like a church aunty, but in reality she’s the shrewd, manipulative queenpin of an underground drug empire based in Pretoria. Wherever Vida goes, shady characters are sure to pop up like weeds. And Danny being her son won’t give him a free pass if he gets in her way.

Binge Binnelanders Seasons 8-14

10. Aunty Poppie in Arendsvlei

Arendsvlei Aunty Poppie and Janice on Showmax

This beloved telenovela centres on the community surrounding Arendsvlei High School on the Cape Flats, the passionate Cupido family who founded the school, and the way social and political issues impact the lives of their students and their prospects.

Just call her Cupid! Vinette joins Arendsvlei in Season 4 as green-fingered hippie Aunty Poppie from the Klein Karoo, whose wisdom and seasoned view on life plays a vital role in getting her niece Janice Cupido (Crystal-Donna Roberts) and Janice’s love, PT teacher Lionel Foster (Jody Abrahams), to the altar after Janice turns down Lionel’s proposal with a sharp lecture.

Binge Arendsvlei Season 1-6

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