Khumba announces Afrikaans cast

The film tells the story of Khumba, a zebra who has only half his stripes. When he is blamed for the lack of rain by the rest of his superstitious herd, he embarks on a brave quest. In his search for the legendary waterhole where the first zebras got their stripes, Khumba meets a quirky range of characters and teams up with an unlikely duo: Mama V, an overprotective wildebeest, and Bradley, a self-obsessed, flamboyant ostrich. But before he can reunite with his herd, Khumba has to come face to face with Phango, a sadistic leopard who controls the waterholes and terrorises all the animals in the Great Karoo.

The Afrikaans version features the voices of several well-known Afrikaans actors who will be familiar to local audiences. The voice-over artists are directed by radio and television personality Bettie Kemp, who is an experienced voice artist, newsreader and continuity announcer.

The voices

Popular young actor and comedian Hannes Brümmer provides the voice for Khumba, with actress Rika Sennet as his mother. Veteran voice artist and actor Francois Stemmet is the voice for the evil Phango. Stemmet is known for voicing numerous children's television programmes, including the role of Sarel die Seemonster in Wielie Walie, one of the first South African television series.

The meerkat dad is voiced by Afrikaans musician and actor Lochner de Kock, while actress and director Rina Nienaber provides the voice for the baby meerkat. Radio personality Derrich Gardner takes on the role of the rabbit. The loony old sheep is voiced by cabaret star and actress Elzabé Zietsman and the three springboks are voiced by Frank Opperman, Frans Swart, and Andre Stolz.

"I'm excited to see it all come together and can imagine that it will bring a whole new layer of humour and authenticity to the film," said Khumba director, Anthony Silverston. "I'm also so excited for the Triggerfish crew who worked on the film as many of them will now be able to watch Khumba in their own language."