EXCLUSIVE | Moshidi Motshegwa on feeling 'insulted' over being booted off The River

As fans continue to call for her return on social media, Moshidi Motshegwa has shared explosive details surrounding the confrontation, which allegedly led to her being axed from The River.  

Moshidi caused chaos on social media when she revealed during a 702 interview that she would not be a part of the next season of the hit drama as scriptwriters were struggling with a storyline for her character, Malefu. 

Ever since the show made its debut, Malefu has been a firm fan favourite and over the past few days social media has been flooded with thousands of comments from disappointed viewers over her exit. 

In an exclusive interview with TshisaLIVE, Moshidi shared details of an alleged confrontation between producers and herself, which apparently happened weeks before her contract was cancelled.

Moshidi claimed she was reprimanded by one of the producers for "being cruel" to one of the younger lead actress', who lodged a complaint against her. 

"I had had a disagreement with Gwydion, one of the executive producers. He reprimanded me and told me that I was being 'cruel' and I needed to stop. One of the younger actresses had complained that she can't act (with me) because I am being cruel to her. I proceeded to ask what I had done and he couldn't say, so I left the meeting and went home."

Moshidi explained that the apparent confrontation took place in November and that she went on to sign her contract for the second season of the show on December 1, 2018. 

Moshidi said she didn't anticipate being called into a meeting just 20 days later to be informed about the u-turn on her contract.

She said she was shocked to hear that scriptwriters were "struggling" to take Malefu's storyline further, considering that her contract was renewed 20 days before. 

"On December 1, I signed the second season contract and on the 21st, which is the day that we were breaking up for our two week holiday, after work, I was called into a meeting. That meeting was with me, the line producer and creative producer, Percy Vilakazi. They said they are ending the contract because they don't have a storyline for Malefu."

Moshidi described the entire situation as "cruel". 

"What happened to me is terrible. Look, you have a right to fire somebody. You can say, 'hey from a business perspective, we no longer require your services.' But to wait until the 21st of December to cancel a contract a person signed 20 days before, that is just cruel."

The veteran actress, whose been acting for over two decades said she felt "insulted by the disrespect" shown to her throughout the situation.  

Moshidi strongly dismissed the young actress' claims that she was threatened by her.  

"I was accused of something I had not done, there was no evidence of me having done something like that. And I hate this narrative that older black women are threatened by younger black actresses -  we are not. She (the fellow actress) was not given enough support to help her with her craft. In fact, I'm one of the people that pointed out that she needed support and I would help her."

An army of fans came out in Moshidi's defence last week after they found out that she was fired from The River.

Fans thought it was fishy that Moshidi was shown the door after being told  "Malefu no longer has a storyline" because of the character's impact on the telenovela. 

Moshidi said she was grateful for the overwhelming support she's received from fans on social media. 

"First of all, please let the people that support me, that have fought for me on those social media platforms know, that I feel their support and I am grateful. I'm not on social media, these are people whose trust and love I have earned," Moshidi said.

Moshidi said she decided to share her story her army of supporters knew the truth and that she was at peace with what had happened and proud to have given her all to Malefu.

Despite several attempts by TshisaLIVE to get comment from both 1 Magic and Tshedza, they had not responded to questions sent to them by the time of publishing this article.