Who Is Lesego Marakalla?
In the world of South African television drama, few characters have left a mark quite like Rachel Kunutu, the ambitious, manipulative, fashion-obsessed young woman at the centre of many of Skeem Saam’s most explosive storylines across nearly a decade.
And the actress who brought her to life, Lesego Marakalla, is herself a story worth telling: a young woman from Mpumalanga who followed the pull of performing arts from childhood, trained in Pretoria, and built a career that has made her one of the most recognisable faces in Mzansi television.
Born on May 16, 1993, in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, Lesego Marakalla joined the cast of Skeem Saam in 2011 at the age of 18, stepping into the role of Rachel Kunutu from the very first season of the beloved SABC1 youth soap opera.
Over the next nine years, she transformed Rachel from a supporting character into one of the show’s most compelling and divisive figures, a high-maintenance young woman determined to live the affluent life she felt destiny owed her, regardless of the moral compromises required along the way.
The performance earned her the Outstanding Female Villain award at the Royalty Soapie Awards in 2018, a recognition that captured both the quality of her acting and the intensity with which South African audiences engaged with the character she had created.
Lesego Marakalla is more than the characters she has played. She is a trained performer who made a deliberate decision to step away from the spotlight at the height of her popularity in order to return to education, a choice that speaks to a depth of character and self-awareness that her screen persona of Rachel Kunutu was carefully designed not to possess.
Her return to television in 2022, joining the cast of Generations: The Legacy, was greeted with excitement by fans who had missed her presence on South African screens, and it confirmed that her talent was as sharp as ever.
Profile
| Full Name | Lesego Marakalla |
| Born | May 16, 1993 |
| Age | 33 years old (as of 2026) |
| Birthplace | Mpumalanga Province, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Occupation | Actress, Philanthropist |
| Relationship Status | Single |
| Net Worth | Not publicly disclosed; estimated modest-to-comfortable based on career earnings |
Early Life
Lesego Marakalla was born on May 16, 1993, in Mpumalanga Province, one of South Africa’s nine provinces, located in the northeastern part of the country and known for its dramatic landscapes of the Lowveld, the Drakensberg Escarpment, and some of the country’s most productive agricultural land.
She grew up in this region, attending Motswedi Primary School in Seabe in Mpumalanga, where the seeds of her future career were already beginning to take root. From an early age, she was drawn to the arts, performance, storytelling, and the stage called to her in a way that few other pursuits could match.
Her childhood was shaped by an environment that placed value on community and family, and Lesego has consistently spoken about her upbringing with warmth and gratitude. The decision to pursue an acting career was not a casual one; it required a commitment to training and a willingness to go where the opportunities existed, which in South Africa’s performing arts landscape meant moving to a larger city with access to proper drama schools and casting networks.
Lesego’s path took her to Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, where she enrolled at Monis Arts House, a performing arts training institution in the city. The move represented a genuine step toward professionalising what had until then been a childhood passion, and the training she received there gave her the technical and emotional tools to build a career on the country’s most watched television platforms.
Education
Lesego Marakalla completed her primary education at Motswedi Primary School in Seabe, Mpumalanga. She later relocated to Pretoria, where she studied drama and the performing arts at Monis Arts House, a training institution that equipped her with the performance fundamentals that underpinned her breakthrough on Skeem Saam.
In 2020, when she departed the show after nine years, she cited a desire to return to school full-time as one of the key reasons for her departure, demonstrating a commitment to broadening her education even at the cost of a high-profile role. The specific nature of her further studies has not been widely disclosed.
Career
Lesego Marakalla began her acting career while still a teenager in high school, performing in school productions and building the instincts that formal training would later sharpen. Her first professional acting opportunity came through a short film called Sifiso, which was broadcast on Mzansi Magic, one of South Africa’s leading entertainment channels on the DStv platform. The role was a meaningful first step, demonstrating that her training at Monis Arts House had equipped her to perform credibly on screen and drawing enough attention to open doors to more significant opportunities.
The door that changed everything opened in 2011, when Lesego was cast in the debut season of Skeem Saam, the SABC1 youth drama series that would become one of the most watched television programmes in South Africa. The show, produced by Umuntu Media, is set at Turfloop University and the surrounding community, and it is designed to address social issues relevant to South African youth, education, relationships, substance abuse, ambition, and identity. Within that setting, Lesego was given the role of Rachel Kunutu, a character who from the outset was positioned as a complex and morally ambiguous figure: a young woman with high aspirations and a willingness to use whatever means necessary to achieve the life she believed she deserved.
Rachel Kunutu became one of Skeem Saam’s most talked-about characters. She was vain, scheming, and relentlessly focused on material advancement, particularly through relationships with older, wealthier men, a storyline that gave the show plenty of dramatic fuel and that Lesego played with a combination of comedic timing, emotional depth, and genuine menace. The character’s marriage to Marothi Maphuthuma, an older wealthy man, and the various crises and confrontations that surrounded that relationship kept audiences riveted through multiple seasons. Rachel’s flaws were written large and played without apology, and it was precisely this uncompromising portrayal of a deeply imperfect character that earned Lesego the Outstanding Female Villain award at the Royalty Soapie Awards in 2018, one of South Africa’s most prestigious television industry honours. She was also recognised at the inaugural Film, Arts, Music and Entertainment (FAME) Awards, where she received multiple honours.
Lesego spent nine years, the full run of a television career that many South African actors would consider complete in itself, as a central member of the Skeem Saam cast. By the time she departed in June 2020, Rachel Kunutu had become so embedded in South African popular culture that the news of her exit generated significant media coverage and a wave of fan reaction. She left, by her own account, not because of any conflict or dissatisfaction with the show but because she wanted to pursue her education full-time, a commitment that required her undivided attention. Her character’s storyline was handled in a way that allowed for a possible future return: Rachel was written out as going to Cuba to study medicine, leaving the door open without the finality of a character death.
In May 2022, Lesego Marakalla made her return to South African television with a debut on Generations: The Legacy, the SABC1 soap opera that is one of the most long-running and beloved in the country’s broadcasting history. She was cast as Thuso, a character positioned as a partner and accomplice of the dangerous serial killer Winston. Her debut scene, in which she dramatically confronted Dr. Siphesihle Cele and defended Winston, generated immediate excitement from fans, many of whom took to social media to express their delight at her return. The response was enthusiastic: viewers recognised her talent immediately and welcomed her back with the warmth of an audience that had genuinely missed her presence on screen. She returned later in 2022 in an expanded storyline, with her character Thuso arriving alongside the villain Oby in a pairing that promised further dramatic fireworks.
Beyond her television work, Lesego Marakalla has been involved in charitable and philanthropic activities. She has worked with a foundation based in Mamelodi, a township in east Pretoria, that donates school uniforms and shoes to learners at primary schools, an initiative that reflects a commitment to giving back to communities facing material disadvantage. She has also served as a brand ambassador for On Point Health Care, extending her professional profile beyond the entertainment industry into the health and wellness sector.
Awards & Nominations
- Outstanding Female Villain, Royalty Soapie Awards (2018), for her portrayal of Rachel Kunutu in Skeem Saam
- Multiple honours at the inaugural Film, Arts, Music and Entertainment (FAME) Awards
- Royalty Soapie Award nominee, multiple categories
Social Media
Lesego Marakalla maintains an active presence on social media, where she connects with her large and devoted fan base.
She is known to her followers online as the “freckled queen”, a self-given title that reflects her warm, confident personality and her distinctive appearance.
- Instagram: @lesego_marakalla
- Twitter/X: @LesegoM_ZA
Personal Life
Lesego Marakalla is single and has consistently kept her romantic life private, a deliberate choice that contrasts with the very public romantic entanglements of her on-screen alter ego Rachel Kunutu. In September 2018, unverified reports circulated online claiming she was romantically involved with musician Robbie Malinga Junior. Both parties quickly and firmly denied the claims: Robbie responded publicly on social media, dismissing the speculation with characteristic directness and making clear that no such relationship existed. Lesego has remained graceful in the face of such rumours, never engaging with them in a way that provides fuel for further speculation.
She is known to spend her personal time with family and close friends, and she has spoken about the importance of that private sphere in sustaining her through the demands of a public career. Her philanthropic work, particularly with the Mamelodi foundation that supports primary school learners, reflects a sense of social responsibility that extends beyond her professional identity. She has also expressed an interest in moving behind the camera, with aspirations toward scriptwriting that suggest an ambition to shape stories from their inception, not merely to bring them to life in front of a lens. For now, acting remains her declared first love, and South African audiences have made clear they hope it remains so for many years to come.
Net Worth
Lesego Marakalla’s exact net worth has not been publicly disclosed, and reliable estimates are not available in the public domain.
What is known is that she spent nine years as a cast member of Skeem Saam, one of South Africa’s highest-rating television programmes, followed by a role in Generations: The Legacy, the country’s longest-running soap opera.
South African television salaries for established cast members of major SABC productions, while not reaching the levels of international entertainment markets, are nonetheless professional incomes that allow for a comfortable lifestyle.
Her brand ambassador work with On Point Health Care and her social media presence with over 200,000 Instagram followers also represent additional income streams. She is understood to live modestly and privately, without the conspicuous wealth displays that sometimes characterise the public personas of South African entertainment figures.
Filmography
- Sifiso — Short film, Mzansi Magic (year of broadcast not widely confirmed); professional debut role
- Skeem Saam — SABC1 youth drama series (2011–2020); played Rachel Kunutu across nine seasons
- Generations: The Legacy — SABC1 soap opera (2022); played Thuso, Winston’s partner in crime
Conclusion
Lesego Marakalla’s story is one of genuine talent, disciplined commitment, and the kind of quiet character that does not announce itself with noise but reveals itself steadily through choices: the choice to take acting seriously from a very young age, the choice to train formally at Monis Arts House, the choice to leave a coveted television role in order to invest in her own education, and the choice to return to screens when she was ready rather than when the industry’s appetite for her demanded it.
She brought Rachel Kunutu to life in a way that made millions of South African viewers feel something, delight, frustration, amusement, outrage, and genuine emotion, across nine years of storytelling.
That is a rare achievement in any television market and an extraordinary one in a country as diverse and demanding in its audience as South Africa.
Whatever direction her career takes next, back to acting, into scriptwriting, or into new dimensions of creative work, Lesego Marakalla has already left her mark on South African television in a way that will not easily be forgotten.