Dikeledi Moetji
Leleti Khumalo is a 48-Year-old actress born in Kwa-Mashu, North of Durban, Kwazulu Natal. She always had an interest in performing from an early age. She played the role of Sarafina for the international blockbuster musical (Sarafina). The actress performed the role of Sarafina on stages in south Africa and on Broadway, where she received a 1988 Tony Award nomination for best actress in Musical.
Leleti has a skin condition called vitiligo in which the skin loses its pigment cells. Speaking to Drum Magazine, the actress first new that she had vitiligo at the age of nineteen (19).
“It was pure ignorance on my part; I didn’t know what it was until I became pregnant.” She said. Her skin condition took a toll when she lost one of her triplets in 2012. “The loss of my child in addition to vitiligo caused a lot of strain on me. I asked myself too many questions, I blamed myself; it was a double tragedy for me as I had to deal with my skin condition at the same time”.
Throughout her acting career, she covered her patches with make up, but the actress intends on not covering her patches anymore, especially now that she will be acting on a Etv’s latest show “Imbewu”
“I used to cover my white patches with make-up but for Imbewu I will not be covering it. People will see me without the makeup. My plan is to educate people about vitiligo but I also don’t want to do a half-job. I’ll be doing educational talks on vitiligo and I want the talks to have an impact,” said Leleti.
