Pebetsi Matlaila, a former Skeem Saam actress, joined the growing number of local artists who are having difficulty in the entertainment industry in March.
Matlaila is one of the few people who has publicly disclosed that she was homeless and living in a shelter in addition to having financial difficulties.
Matlaila, who portrayed Mokgadi Matloga in Skeem Saam, stated in an exclusive interview with Sunday World that she had nowhere else to go, so she moved to the shelter.
“I could not live with friends and my kids any longer, and I did not have a home of my own and money to move,” she said.
“It was a gradual thing. At the time, I was still working at a radio station but doing one show a week, and the little I got was never enough to pay rent.”
Moving into a shelter
The actress revealed that ever since the birth of her second child, who is now three years old, her mother has been willing to help her.
“Family members started seeing me as a burden and how my weight was too heavy for my mother to bear and how I was the one stressing my mother out.
“They told me that I should accept that I was no longer a celebrity, downgrade my life, and go back home,” she said.
She did not want to return home, though, as her older daughter was in her final year of primary school and she still thought she had a chance in the industry.
At this point, she realised that she was on her own and could not rely on handouts.
“I did not even know that shelters for women and children existed, so I called the one that was close to my daughters’ school.
“They told me [that] I should come and see if we qualify. I went there with all my bags, and by the end of the day, they took us in.”
One-bedroom cottage
She went on to say that she posted a video of her struggles on social media because she saw a woman who recognised her and decided to record her on her phone.
“I saw that she was going to try and make money off my story, and I said, ‘not on my watch’. That was when I took the decision to let the world know that I am living in a shelter because I do not have money.
“As of last week, we moved into our new home, and it is nothing fancy — a one-bedroom cottage — but my kids and I are used to sharing a bed.
“I also made sure [that] I paid three months’ rent in advance because I never want to see my kids in that situation again. While I work on my finances, I hope to buy a home for them.”
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