TV star died alone at home

24 January 2014 - 03:18 By ANDILE NDLOVU
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THE LONG GOODBYE: Thembi Seete and Keketso Semoko try to hold back their emotions during the memorial service of former 'Isidingo' star Lesego Motsepe at the SABC's headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, yesterday
THE LONG GOODBYE: Thembi Seete and Keketso Semoko try to hold back their emotions during the memorial service of former 'Isidingo' star Lesego Motsepe at the SABC's headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, yesterday
Image: LAUREN MULLIGAN

Lesego Motsepe's family assumed she was away on one of her many "adventures" when they couldn't get hold of her for the whole of last weekend.

It was not until Monday morning, when her brother, Moemise, decided to check at her Randburg flat, that she was found.

"She lived alone and we always made sure we kept in regular contact with her," said her uncle, Abe Ntlatleng, at her memorial service at the SABC yesterday.

"[Eventually, Moemise] decided to drive to her place. He found the security gate locked but the door slightly open and he managed to retrieve the key from the door.

"After looking all over the house for her, in the kitchen there lay her lifeless body."

Ntlatleng said an autopsy, it was hoped, would "ascertain the time and day of her passing".

He said that, among the many messages of sympathy that the family had received there were some "disturbing" ones.

He said the family that "brought her up knew the truth''.

Motsepe played Letti Matabane for a decade on SABC3 soapie Isidingo. Two years ago, on World Aids Day, Lesego broke the news in a radio interview that she had HIV.

She was diagnosed with HIV when she was 23, back in 1998, after being infected by a boyfriend.

Many colleagues and friends, including Tshepo Maseko (who played her brother, Parsons), her on-screen parents Keketso Semoko (Ma Agnes) and Don Mlangeni (Bra Zeb), on-screen beau Meshack Mavuso (Vusi Moletsane), and Vusi Kunene, Kgomotso Christopher, Akin Omotoso, Katlego Danke, Simphiwe Dana, Criselda Kananda, Thembi Seete and Sthandiwe Kgorose were all in the auditorium for the tributes.

Her doctor, Marlin McKay, said he was always nervous whenever Motsepe came to see her, because she was so "clued-up".

Actress Esmeralda Bihl joked: "When you were at her place, you knew to bring a toothbrush because when she brought out the Scrabble you weren't leaving."

The funeral service will be at 10am tomorrow at Bryanston Methodist Church.

The burial will be a family-only gathering.

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