WeeklySA_AdminGRIT: The screen has gone still. The theatre lies in a hush. A country grieves…
By Themba Khumalo
The rich fabric of South African arts feels unravelled today, darkened by the sudden and heartbreaking loss of Presley Chweneyagae.
At just 40, this electrifying force—actor, playwright, director, and son of the soil—has left a deep and aching void in Mzansi’s creative soul.
His death, following a brief illness, has sent shockwaves through South Africa’s artistic community and left a chasm in the soul of a nation still reeling from the news. On 27 May 2025, a light went out—but what it illuminated will never be forgotten. Born in Mafikeng on 19 October 1984 and raised in Soweto, Presley was a performer long before the world knew his name. He began acting at the tender age of 10—not merely mimicking life but embodying it. Even then, it was as if something ancient lived in him: a gift, a gravity, a fire. He was not just pretending. He was prophesying.
The world first felt his power in Tsotsi (2005), where he portrayed a hardened young gangster clawing for redemption in the heart of Johannesburg’s unforgiving streets. It was not a performance—it was a reckoning. Presley’s portrayal bled truth, trembling vulnerability and rage in equal measure. The role earned international acclaim and helped Tsotsi win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, marking a watershed moment for South African cinema. He was only 21. And yet, he had already changed the game.
But he refused to be contained by a single role. Presley belonged to the theatre as much as the screen. He breathed life into Shakespeare’s greats, captivating audiences in Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He didn’t just perform the Bard—he met him eye to eye. He co-wrote the thought-provoking play Relativity and later took to directing with Cell No. 4, a powerful, award-winning stage production that proved his genius behind the scenes.
On television, he was unforgettable. In The River, he portrayed Thuso “Cobra” Mokoena, a character as complex and combustible as the man who played him. With Cobra, Presley showed the full spectrum of black South African masculinity—flawed, funny, furious, and deeply human. He earned a SAFTA for Best Actor, and a Royalty Soapie Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2020.
And in 2025, he stepped into a new role—as Executive Producer—for Cobrizi. This raw, honest spin-off carried his unmistakable artistic DNA. He was never just in the story. He was the story.
Presley’s artistry was born of lived experience. Having grown up in Soweto, his work was marked by memories, hardship, resilience, and grace. He brought the street’s rhythm to Shakespeare’s prose. He poured the poetry of pain into every line. His characters lived because he lived.
Yet beyond the talent—and there was so much talent—he was deeply loved for the way he moved through the world: humble, soft-spoken, generous with his time and his wisdom. He mentored young actors not to perform but to feel. He reminded us that storytelling was sacred—that it was, in fact, survival.
Today, we face the unbearable truth of his absence. The cause of his passing remains private. But the grief is public. It is vast. It is shared. His loss is not just cinematic—it is cultural, spiritual, and personal. The kind that hollows out silence.
He didn’t just leave behind roles. He left behind revolutions in performance. He left behind a blueprint for how to tell our stories: with honesty, with honour, with heart.
Presley Chweneyagae was, and always will be, more than an actor. He was a vessel. A mirror. A flame.
Rest now, gentle giant.
The curtain has fallen.
But your echo fills the stage.
Your name is stitched into our souls.
And your story—our story—will never end.
