Zimbabweans mourn the death of scandal actress.

A dark cloud engulfed southern African yesterday as news of the passing on of actress Nomhle Nkonyeni spread. She was 77. The veteran actress died in the early hours of Wednesday morning as confirmed by a family representative.

As the whole of Africa was still trying to come to terms with the sad news, Zimbabweans were not spared the agony. Most locals do watch the etv soapie Scandal in which the late actress played the role of Lulama Langa. Her character in the soapie was that of a strong, fierce lady, who stood her ground. She was often in conflict with her son’s second wife, a cheeky beautiful woman with a snobish character.

The cast and crew of Scandal issued a statement and said Nomhle had been scheduled to fly to P.E to shoot scenes for her upcoming phase in the popular soapie. They said her wish to die as a working actress had indeed been granted. They went on further to state,” ..she had a deeply resonating effect every time she appeared, not only on our crew and cast,but with viewers who adored her fierce character”.

Most social media platforms were flooded with condolence messages. Her fans from Zimbabwe expressed deep shock and hurt at the lose of one of the best characters from their favourite soapie.

Nomhle had been in the media industry for about 50 years. Her list of accomplishments is quite commendable. She was the first ever black woman to perform at the Capb Theatre in Cape Town in the then apartheid era in South Africa. She was also the receipient of the order of the Ikhamanga in silver this April which was handed over to her by president Cyril Ramaphosa. In 2016, she received the lifetime achievement award at the SAFTA’s.

Nomhle also started in Igazi, Knuckle city, Zero tolerance and Home affairs. May her dear soul rest in peace.