Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makhetha on finding his real father at age 58

Earlier today, legendary actor, Ntate Jerry Mo­fo­keng wa Makhetha shared in exact detail what went down the day he found out, at 58 years old, that the man who had raised him was not actually his father.

Speaking to Bridget Masinga on her Kaya FM show, the B-Side, Mofokeng explained: “So I’m in the Free State and I’m waiting to go and buy some stuff and these two ladies come up to me and they want selfies and blah blah blah… no problem… and there’s this lady standing a distance away and she keeps smiling… and she keeps smiling… kind of nervously smiling, and when they go away, she comes in and says ‘dumela ngoaneso, hello my brother,’ and I said ‘hello my sister’ and she said ‘no Jerry, I said hello my brother,’ and I said ‘yeah, I heard you’ and she said ‘Jerry! Listen to me… you are my brother’ and I said ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ and she said ‘woah, Jerry, my father is your father’ and I said ‘what do you mean?’ and she said ‘do you know a man by the name of Dan Motlepo Makgetha?’ and I said ‘I know him! He used to drink at my home!’ and she said ‘that’s your father’ and that was the beginning of my journey, 10 December, my wife’s birthday….”

And now, at age 62, the actor reveals that he is in talks to capture his story in documentary form. He first made this revelation at the 2017 South African Film and Television nomination party after receiving a nomination for best actor in a TV drama. An award that he went on to win.

Ever since the story first broke, Mofokeng has maintained that he has never cried as hard as he did that day. But, he has since come the realization that a lot of the things he has gone though have been as a result of the journey to find his true identity. Everything from the first play he wrote at the age of 14/15 titled “who is my father,” to the way in which his life with his mother and step-father began.

He also spoke to Masinga about his life as part of the youth of 1976 in great detail. Watch a snippet of the interview below:

Listen to the full Jerry Mofokeng interview here: 

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Main image credit: instagram.com/jerrymofokeng8