Skeem Saam actress Amanda Manku: I died

Popular Mzansi actress Amanda Manku, who plays the role of Dr Elizabeth Thobakgale-Seakamela on Skeem Saam opens up about her mother and grandmother’s murders.


The seasoned Skeem Saam actress Amanda Manku reveals on Mommy Diaries Podcast that her father was her best friend before he murdered her mother and grandmother.

Manku says at first, she thought she was fine but 2024 was the year that hit her that they were no more.

“I did not deal with it; I died. I think the day that they passed away was the day that something died within me,” she said.

“My mom had me when she was 15, so she was my friend, and my grandmother automatically became my mother.”

“So, when both of them died, for the longest time I was angry with God in the nature in which they departed.”

Amanda Manku

She adds that her mom and grandmother were the centre of her life, and her father was her best friend.

“My pillar of strength and this is now the man who is arrested for the murder of my mother and grandmother. I had the perfect parents who had me when they were very young,” says the actress.

The sportscaster and actress, Amanda Manku lost both her mother and grandmother at the same time in May.

“On January 10, 2024, three suspects appeared in the Lebowakgomo Magistrate court in connection with the murder of two women, aged, 70 and 45. The mother and daughter were shot and killed by unknown on 4 May 2021 at Makgophong Village, Zebediela,” said the actress in a statement.

Limpopo Chronicle reported in January that three suspects were arrested in connection with the murder of the mother and grandmother of Amanda Manku.

The suspects were David Khoza, 40, William Manku, 53, and Nonhlanhla Ngubo, 42.

The publication adds that the 70-year-old mother and her 45-year-old daughter were shot dead by unknown suspects while fetching water at a local tap. The elderly woman was also in the company of her son, who was injured during the shooting incident.

IOL reported in February that Limpopo Provincial Police spokesperson Col. Malesela Ledwaba stated, “Capt. Manku remains in custody, while charges against his alleged girlfriend, Sgt. Ngubo, have been withdrawn by the court.”