| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Lesego Marakalla |
| Date of Birth | May 16, 1993 |
| Age (2026) | 33 years old |
| Birthplace | Seabe, Mpumalanga, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Education | Motswedi Primary School, Seabe; KwaMalala High School; Monis Arts House, Pretoria |
| Known For | Rachel Kunutu — Skeem Saam (SABC1) |
| Other Roles | Thuso — Generations: The Legacy (SABC1) |
| First Role | Sifiso — short film, Mzansi Magic |
| Awards | Outstanding Female Villain — Royalty Soapie Awards, 2018; FAME Awards honours |
| @lesego_marakalla | |
| Relationship | Single (as of last confirmed reports) |
| Philanthropy | Foundation donating school uniforms and shoes, Mamelodi, Pretoria |
| Estimated Net Worth | R500,000 – R1.5 million ZAR (estimated) |
Early Life and Background
The Lesego Marakalla biography begins in Seabe, a small community in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Born on May 16, 1993, Lesego grew up in a part of the country that is far removed from the glittering world of television studios and Johannesburg red carpets — but it gave her something more valuable than early access to the entertainment industry. It gave her roots.
From a very young age, Lesego demonstrated an unmistakeable pull toward performance. Where many children find their passion in sport, academics, or music, Lesego found hers in storytelling and the arts. She performed drama and poetry actively during her high school years at KwaMalala High School in Mpumalanga, using the stage — however humble — to develop the confidence and instinct that would later define her professional career.
Her primary schooling took place at Motswedi Primary School in Seabe, where the foundation of her character — disciplined, focused, and creatively curious — began taking shape. Even as a young girl, the people around her could see that performance was not a hobby. It was a calling.
What makes the early chapter of the Lesego Marakalla biography particularly meaningful is the context it provides for everything that came after. Lesego did not grow up in Johannesburg with access to drama coaches, casting connections, or television industry networks. She grew up in Mpumalanga, practised her craft in school corridors and community spaces, and earned her way into the national spotlight through pure, disciplined talent.
Education and Training
After completing her matric, Lesego made a decision that would shape the entire trajectory of her career. Rather than attempting to break into the entertainment industry unprepared, she enrolled at Monis Arts House in Pretoria — a respected performing arts institution that has trained some of South Africa’s finest actors.
It was here, just a few months into her drama studies, that destiny intervened in a very direct way. Skeem Saam — the SABC1 youth drama that would go on to become one of South Africa’s most-watched television programmes — was conducting auditions. Lesego, still very early in her formal training and by her own admission extremely shy, attended the audition and impressed the casting director sufficiently to walk away with a role.
The significance of that moment is easy to understate. Skeem Saam was not a minor, low-stakes production. It aired on SABC1, reached millions of South African households nightly, and was specifically designed to engage with youth audiences on educational and social themes. Getting cast in Skeem Saam at that stage of her training was not just a career opportunity — it was a national platform handed to a young woman who had barely begun her professional journey.
By 2020, Lesego once again demonstrated that her relationship with education was not finished. She made the bold decision to leave Skeem Saam — a stable, prominent television role — to return to school full-time. The academic programme she enrolled in would not allow her to juggle studies with a full-time acting commitment, and she chose her education without hesitation. That decision speaks volumes about who Lesego Marakalla is beyond the roles she plays.
Career
First Steps: Sifiso (Mzansi Magic)
Before Rachel Kunutu existed in the minds of South African viewers, Lesego made her professional acting debut in a short film titled Sifiso, which was broadcast on Mzansi Magic. This first role was a meaningful stepping stone — it gave her screen experience, taught her the practical realities of professional production, and confirmed that her talent translated from the classroom to the camera.
Skeem Saam: 2011 – 2020 — The Making of Rachel Kunutu
In 2011, Lesego Marakalla joined the cast of Skeem Saam in its very first season as Rachel Kunutu — and nothing in South African television was quite the same again.
Rachel Kunutu was not a simple character. She was Celia’s daughter, shaped by grief after the early loss of her father Ben Kunutu, hardened by the financial struggles her family endured, and driven by a relentless hunger to live the kind of life she felt fate had denied her. Rachel did not believe that good things happened to good people. She believed in making things happen — by whatever means necessary.
What made Rachel compelling was her completeness as a character. She was vindictive and calculating, but she was also understandable. She was a young woman who had watched her family struggle and decided, consciously, that she would not share that fate. Her pursuit of wealth through Marothi Maphuthuma — the much-older businessman she ultimately married — was the show’s most discussed storyline for seasons.
Lesego played Rachel with such convincing intensity that the line between actress and character frequently blurred in public spaces. She has spoken publicly about enduring jeers and hostile comments from viewers who encountered her in shopping malls and public places — people who addressed her as Rachel rather than Lesego, or who held her responsible for Rachel’s on-screen actions. This is both a burden and a testament to how fully she inhabited the role.
In 2018, during Rachel’s turbulent marriage to Marothi and the sugar baby storyline that gripped the country, Lesego described the arc as her most enjoyable to play — a sign of an actress who finds deepest satisfaction in morally complex material.
She remained part of the Skeem Saam family from 2011 through 2020 — nine years of continuous characterisation, growth, and national visibility. When she departed in 2020, her character’s exit was left deliberately open-ended: Rachel Kunutu left Turfloop to pursue medicine in Cuba, following in the footsteps of her late father’s dreams. The door was open. South Africa waited.
Generations: The Legacy — 2022 Return
When Lesego returned to South African television screens in 2022, it was not a quiet comeback. She joined the cast of Generations: The Legacy on SABC1, one of the country’s most-watched prime-time dramas, playing a character named Thuso — described as Winston’s partner in crime.
Her debut scene on Generations was immediately discussed. Viewers saw her placing a white rose on Sphe Moroka’s car, followed by a confrontation with police in an interrogation room, insisting she was Winston’s wife and that Sphe was unworthy of his attention. It was a deranged, high-voltage entrance — and Lesego delivered it with the precision of someone who had never been away.
The role confirmed what many had suspected: that the years away from television had not diminished Lesego’s talent. If anything, they had deepened it.
Skeem Saam — 2025 Return: Rachel Kunutu Is Back
The most celebrated chapter of the Lesego Marakalla biography in recent years is her highly anticipated return to Skeem Saam in June 2025 — five years after she left. SABC1 officially announced that Rachel Kunutu would return to Turfloop on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, and the announcement caused a wave of excitement across South African social media that is difficult to overstate.
In her own words about the comeback: “It feels good to be back. It is not only about me, but it is also about my supporters who appreciate my craft. They have been asking me when I will be returning to Skeem Saam, and I’m happy to say that they will see me back on-screen playing Rachel very soon.”
The return brought with it high-stakes storytelling. Rachel arrived back in Turfloop with a network of shady associations — connected to a mysterious new character called Ghost, played by actor and presenter Tshepo “Howza” Mosese, and tangled up with the Lord of the Flies (Archie Nhlapo). Her estranged husband Marothi Maphuthuma, played by Macks Papo, also returned — the reunion between the two characters carrying all the tension of years of unresolved betrayal.
Skeem Saam’s production described Rachel as returning “stronger than when she left” — a description that fits both the character and the actress playing her.
Awards and Recognition
The Lesego Marakalla biography includes a meaningful awards record that reflects the high regard in which the South African entertainment industry holds her work:
Royalty Soapie Awards, 2018 — Outstanding Female Villain Award. This recognition came at the peak of Rachel Kunutu’s most controversial storylines and confirmed what viewers already knew: Lesego was not simply playing a villain, she was defining what a South African television villain could be.
FAME Awards (Film, Arts, Music and Entertainment Awards) — Lesego received multiple honours at the inaugural FAME Awards, held in Polokwane, recognising her across several categories in the performing arts.
These awards are not just trophies. They are documentation of a career built on consistent, compelling, high-quality performance across more than a decade of South African television.
Philanthropy: Giving Back
One of the most important and underreported aspects of the Lesego Marakalla biography is her philanthropic work. Away from the cameras, Lesego is actively involved with a foundation based in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, that donates school uniforms and shoes to learners at primary schools.
In a country where educational inequality remains a persistent crisis, access to something as basic as a school uniform can be the difference between a child attending school consistently or staying home. Lesego’s involvement in this work reveals a woman who has not forgotten where she came from — and who uses her platform and resources to make a direct, practical difference in the lives of children who remind her of her younger self.
This dimension of her life rarely makes headlines. But it may be the most defining thing about who Lesego Marakalla truly is.
Personal Life
Lesego Marakalla is intensely private about her personal relationships, a deliberate boundary she has maintained consistently throughout her career. She is currently based in the Soshanguve area, north of Tshwane, having relocated from her Mpumalanga origins to establish her professional and personal life in the Pretoria region.
In 2018, public speculation mounted about a possible relationship between Lesego and Robbie Malinga Junior, son of the late South African musician Robbie Malinga. Robbie Junior dismissed the rumours firmly and publicly, and Lesego herself did not engage with the narrative. As of the most recent confirmed reports, she is not publicly in a relationship.
What is known is that outside of work, Lesego values time with family and close friends, lives a relatively grounded lifestyle given her level of fame, and is deeply committed to her craft — including ambitions in scriptwriting that she has mentioned in interviews, describing it as a creative avenue she hopes to explore once the time is right.
She is a self-described introvert — someone who found their public voice through the boldest, loudest character on South African television, but who prefers quieter realities in everyday life.
Social Media Presence
Lesego Marakalla maintains an active and growing social media presence:
- Instagram: @lesego_marakalla — over 138,000 followers as of 2022, with continued growth
- Facebook: Active official page with over 67,000 likes as of 2025
- Twitter/X: Active presence with a substantial following
Her social media reflects the duality of her public persona: occasionally giving fans glimpses into her life, but never fully surrendering the privacy she guards carefully. Posts from May 2025 — ahead of her Skeem Saam return — generated tens of thousands of reactions and reconfirmed her status as one of South Africa’s most beloved television personalities.
Net Worth
Calculating the net worth of a South African soap opera actress requires honest context. SABC1 soapie actors in South Africa operate within a broadcasting environment where salaries, while professional, are not in the same tier as major streaming platform productions. However, Lesego Marakalla’s career spans over a decade of continuous television work, awards recognition, and a return that places her back on one of the country’s highest-rating dramas.
Her income sources include:
- Acting fees from Skeem Saam across nine years (2011–2020)
- Acting fees from Generations: The Legacy (2022)
- Acting fees from her 2025 Skeem Saam return
- Awards and recognition that enhance her brand value and endorsement potential
- Short film work and possible brand collaboration opportunities
A conservative, responsible estimate places her net worth between R500,000 and R1.5 million ZAR as of 2026. This figure reflects a working actress with consistent professional credits rather than a media mogul — but it also reflects someone still actively building a career that shows no signs of plateauing.