What's Lerato Moloisane/Mvelase's real name? Why was her surname Moloisane one moment and Mvelase the next?
When
Home Affairs first premiered on SABC1 in 2005 she was known as Moloisane and now she's known as Mvelase.
I've never heard goss about her getting married so why the change? Who is she
really?
Lerato's currently starring in two shows: Home Sweet Home on SABC2 on Sundays and Shreds & Dreams, on SABC1 on Thursdays.
Also, she's
ProVerb's sister but they have different surnames. Why?
I caught up with with her to solve her mystery for us and it turns out it's an intense story, best told by her:
Lerato: Mvelase's my biologolical surname - my mom was adopted by Moloisane so I went back to my mom's biological surname.
Tashi: Did she only find out who her parents were later in life?
Lerato: No, no, my mom always knew she was adopted - I think she was 15/16 when she was adopted. My mom and the sister before her and her older sisters were Mvelase.
Growing up I was like: “Why are your sisters Zulu?” It didn’t make any sense to me and then my mom explained that her and her sister were adopted. Then, when I got older, I said: “I want my biological surname.”
Tashi: So Mvelase was your real grandfather’s surname? How did your adopted grandparents feel about you changing?
Lerato: They passed on while I was in high school. First my grandmother and then my grandfather.
Tashi: Do you have contact with your biological family?
Lerato: Yes, I’m working on a relationship with them - they come to the house, they visit me, I have lunches with them because I want to have that relationship with my family.
Now I’m finding out other things about them - that I’m actually Xhosa. I’m writing a play about it - I’m probably the only South African who’s been Sotho, then Zulu and now I’m finding out that I’m Xhosa. Next thing I’m gonna find out I’ve got Chinese blood in me.
You wonder how many other South Africans out there have the same thing.
Tashi: How does ProVerb fit into the picture?
Lerato: We share a brother. Both my brothers have different surnames. Our oldest brother, Paul and ProVerb, share a dad. And me and Pro' share a mom.
Tashi: Are you close?
Lerato: We are. It’s also a relationship that has to be worked on and it’s still being worked on because we grew up apart. We only used to see each other at Christmas and we’d meet at their dad’s house.
When we all went to Jo’burg we got hold of each other and now we do lunches together, celebrate each other’s birthdays, go to the movies and our kids spend time together.
Tashi: Do you have other brothers and sisters?
Lerato: No, it’s just us. Pro' has a younger sister who’s at RAU.
Tashi: Instead of doing a play you should do a reality show!
When family shreds dreams
Lerato as Yoliswa on Shreds & Dreams. There’s a Q&A on your
TVSA profile that you did a while ago, with the question: “What was the hardest lesson you’ve learnt” and you answered: “That you cannot rely too much on family.” What did you mean?
Lerato: When I was growing up there was a lot that I experienced in the family my mom was raised in. From me being a baby to me turning 12 - I kind of knew what family was.
My adopted grandmother and grandfather were still around and they were very strict. It’s like I knew who everyone was in the family and I would see them. We’d have family functions and see them and they’d visit and my grandmother would cook - she loved cooking.
When she passed on everything changed. That’s when the Moloisane family kind of turned their backs on my mom and her sister because they weren’t the kids of the family and we were living in the family house at the time.
My grandfather’s kids from outside came to live with us and my mom accepted them because they’re family you know and they took over the house and it was just the
worst time of my life - high school and ‘varsity.
I remember ... Pro’s dad enrolled me in Sacred Hearts and I wouldn’t have the money to go school and nobody came through for me.
My mom would be running round trying to get money for me to go to school - it just didn’t make any sense to me as a child, like: “I’ve got all these aunts - not my mom’s real sisters because they weren’t working and weren’t living with us - but the family members of the Moloisane family who were living with us, I’d think: “Why aren’t they talking to us? Why aren’t they helping us?”
That’s where my belief in family was tampered with. I was a teenager, still trying to find myself, I had my own issues growing up and I was like: “Now I have to deal with this?”
I finished high school and went to Wits and stayed at res and went through bad depression at ‘varsity. I didn’t realise how much I’d been carrying over the years - how much damage it had done to me.
I was doing drama and I was very disturbed at ‘varsity. I was just different. Luckily I started doing proper work - I’d worked since I was 13 but it was proper work at ‘varsity, where I was getting paid weekly and with the first cheque I bought my mom a small TV. One of those small colour TV’s, a Hitachi TV - we still have it.
My mom was living in the bedroom - we had a four roomed house but her bedroom was the house now. She couldn't be with them in the other rooms. It was bad,
bad - we had our food in the bedroom, our TV in the bedroom, we used to wash in the bedroom - I promise you.
I finally left Wits and by then I was already working - I saved and saved and two years ago I bought my mom a house - now I’ve got a home.
My mom always says that when she goes to church and talks about how grateful she is to God, she’ll say: “I lived in room in a four bedroom house and I asked for two bedrooms” - we were looking for a two bedroomed house - "and God gave us 11 bedrooms. It’s an 11 roomed house."
From that, because my mom's very spritual, I got to realise how grateful I should be that my life turned out like it has because it’s made me the person that I am, the woman that I am. It’s because of what I went through.
Tashi: And your dad?
Lerato: I don’t know my real dad - my brother’s dad was my dad for a long time. My mom, it’s a very sensitive subject - she never wants to talk about it. I think because I grew up without him, I will make time to find him or find his family.
I wish I could see what he looks like because I’ve got such beautiful legs that I believe I got from him.
Right now: Lerato's finishing her degree and wants to go to London to do her Masters. She's also in the process of signing a recording deal with Gallo - for an afro-jazzy/blues/soulful album.
She has a daughter and isn't married. Her and her baby'daddy split and they're both cool with it.
I asked her if she'd change her name again if she were to get married and she said: "Yes, I’m still old school in certain aspects of my life. Things like that, a woman is whisked away by her prince. So I’ll proudly change my surname and if I get divorced, I’ll proudly change it back."