Did you know that the woman who plays Mantwa on Muvhango is an ex-convict? Her name is Morwesi Theledi, and she is 38 years old. Morwesi was lured into a dark bank-robbing syndicate by cunning regular customers. They would buy her gifts and pay her debts. She worked at the bank at that time in Dube it was 2008. Morwesi says they gave her money and said they were tipping her for a well-done job. “The love of money drew me closer to these guys. They used to give me tips and used to pay my debts. Little did I know that this was a crime syndicate.”
She was a successful senior supervisor at only 34 years old. She mentioned how she said no at first but reconsidered after deciding that she had taken so many gifts from the customers,
They wanted her to post three million Rands into a fraudulent account. She says her threats quickly stopped her protest if she refused to do what they said. “Their last threat was in December 2009 when the two guys were standing outside my yard describing what my son was wearing. They said if I don’t make the transaction, it will be the last time I see my son.” Forced by circumstances, she agreed to do what she was told to do.
She says she went into the system and transferred R2.7million and withheld R300,000. “After an hour, I decided to block the account by increasing the amount to R27 million. When the syndicate came to this realization, they alerted the police. This was the biggest mistake of my life.”
She was sentenced to 10 years in 2012. Mantwa went through a trial for two years while locked up at Moder police station. While detained there, she joined the Gauteng Department of Community Safety’s rehabilitation program called Get Out and Stay Out (GOSO) for short. She became the MEC ‘s ambassador for this program. Morwesi fell in love with acting while in jail. She was in there for six years. One of her children was born while she was in prison. She started appearing on our screens as it was exposed that James mother, Kedibone kidnapped Tenda and Mphos baby Kenosi. Mantwa, played beautifully by Morwesi, is James crazy cousin and accomplice to this crime. Morwesi is also a motivational speaker. She made good out of a bad situation.