SA mourns Lesego Motsepe

The 39-year-old actress was found dead in her Randburg flat on Monday morning by her brother, Moemesi Motsepe.

Actor Tumisho Masha, who portrayed Motsepe’s husband on the SABC 3 soapie Isidingo said it was a very tough time, not only for her family but for her colleagues too. Masha said he remembers her as a true professional who was dedicated to her craft.

“Lesego loved people and was very open and welcoming. Although she was quite established on Isidingo when I joined, there was no sense of rivalry or discomfort. Instead we got along very well and everybody on set loved her. She played my first TV wife so her passing is really quite touching,” he said.

“We did not live far from each other, so whenever I cycled past her place, I’d pop in and chat to her for hours. Even on set, in between shooting, we spent a lot of time talking. She was a wise lady and always offered great advice,” recalled Masha.

Motsepe shot to prominence when she joined the cast of Isidingo in 1998 as Letti Matabane, but after 10 years on the popular soapie, Motsepe’s character was killed in a car accident. At the time she told fans that she wanted to pursue her theatre career.

The actress then made headlines in 2011 when on World AIDS day, she announced that she had been living with HIV/AIDS for 13 years. She was universally praised as a role model for revealing her HIV status and advocating a healthy lifestyle and the use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to keep the disease from advancing.

However Motsepe faced widespread criticism and condemnation when a year later she revealed during an interview with Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu on SABC3′s 3Talk that she had stopped taking ARVs. The actress explained she had adopted a holistic approach and was using diet and homeopathic medicines to control the disease.

The Department of Health called Motsepe’s comments irresponsibles. “We don’t want to go back to the past. We are still paying the price for that past of beetroot and garlic. We would like to appeal to the public, especially those who are on ARVs, not to be misled by celebrities,” then-Department of Health Department Spokesman Fidel Hadebe said.

Motsepe however continued to speak out. “There is a need for a holistic approach in tackling the pandemic as opposed to a hopeless approach with drugs being seen as a do-or-die solution. We can take ARVs and still engage in unprotected sex, we can take them on empty stomachs and souls and be plunged deeper into pain and suffering, or we can see them as part of a holistic solution and partner in discovering alternative and additional ways of conquering the virus,” she later told Times Live.

Motsepe’s battle is now over and she is survived by her mother Ivy Skhosana, brothers Moemise and Andile Skhosana.

Source: Destiny Connect.Com