Bio
Connie Chiume was a South African actress best known for her starring role as Mamokete Khuse, an upstanding and moral woman who is everyone's mother, in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City, from 2007-2016.
She was also known for her starring role as Mam'Sonto on all four seasons of the Mzansi Magic telenovela Gomora (2020 - 2023).
Connie was previously best known for her role as Stella Moloi in the SABC1 drama series Zone 14, from 2005-2010, for which she won the Golden Horn award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama at the third South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs), in 2009.
Other television series she's starred in include the SABC1 drama Soul City (for which the won the Avanti award for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2000), the SABC1 sitcom Mazinyo Dot Q and the SABC2 drama series 90 Plein Street.
She also appeared in Home Affairs, Khululeka (Seasons 1-3), Yizo Yizo 3, Soul City and Generations among others. She also acted in numerous commercials, documentaries and educationals.
Connie acted in numerous feature films as well, including The Air Up There (1994), Chikin Biznis (1998), I Dreamed of Africa (2000), Country of My Skull (2004), Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
In theatre, she played the lead role in the acclaimed stage play You Strike The Woman, You Strike The Rock, in 2006. She also performed in Ipi Ntombi (which toured South Africa, Monte Carlo, USA and New Zealand), Porgy & Bess, and Little Shop of Horrors.
Her previous jobs, prior to her acting/dancing and singing career, included nursing, teaching and waitressing. Her special skills included event management.
In 2014 Connie was one of the celebrity contestants on the first season of the e.tv game show I Love South Africa.
In April 2016 she announced she was retiring the role of Mamokete in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City, which she had played since the show's first episode on 9 July, 2007. She said she would still focus on acting, but also wanted to indulge her longtime passion for farming. Her last appearance on the show was on Wednesday 20 April, 2016.
In 2017 she starred in the e.tv drama series Easy Money, inspired by real life Ponzi schemes. She played Gloria, a maths teacher who invests her retirement money in the scheme.
The following year she starred in the 1Magic drama series Housekeepers, where she played Maria Motsepe for three seasons.
Between 2017 and 2024 she also had roles in Ring of Lies, Grassroots, Thula's Vine and the Netflix series Queen Sono and Soon Comes Night.
In 2020 she joined the Mzansi Magic telenovela Gomora as crime boss Mam'Sonto, a woman who appears to be a loving grandmother on the outside - but underneath has a heart of steel. She pulls the strings in this community and doesn't let anyone forget it. The series ended in October 2023.
In 2022 Connie was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the SAFTAs.
She died on Tuesday 6 August 2024, at Garden City Hospital in Johannesburg. Her cause of death wasn't disclosed. She was 72.