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Actress who played Lindiwe says Scandal! was a ‘toxic’ work environment
Mvelo Makhanya, who played Lindiwe, said she wanted to leave Scandal! and said that it was something she had been praying about.
Safta award winning actress Nomvelo Makhanya played Lindiwe Ngema on eTV’s Scandal!. Picture: Instagram
Shortly after a sad departure from the show, Mvelo Makhanya, the actress who played Lindiwe on the eTV soapie Scandal! has made some damning claims about what it was like to work on the show.
Makhanya, 26, had played the role of Lindiwe for almost a decade and recently left the show, reportedly to pursue other interests.
Rumours had been swirling that she was leaving the show because her boyfriend was not happy about her filming romantic scenes with her on-screen husband, however, the actress has since revealed the real reason behind her exit.
‘Toxic work environment’
Speaking in an Instagram live stream, she said that she was the one who had been “catching all the f***ing smoke” about her departure from the show from viewers who were not happy about her storyline.
Namely, the fact that her character was set to die.
“It wasn’t me guys, it wasn’t my choice. Let me tell you…” she began.
“They wrote me off, that’s the truth.”
She went on to state that she was tired of being blamed for her exit and that it was not her choice.
Makhanya added that she wanted to leave the show though and said that it was something she had been praying about.
“It was something I had been praying about so when it finally happened, it felt like it was God removing me from that toxic work environment.”
Making a point to illustrate how toxic her experience had been, she said that had she stayed on the show, there was a “90% chance” that she would have killed herself, adding “that’s how toxic that place was”.
Watch as Mvelo Makhanya speaks about her exit from e.tv’s Scandal!:
RIP Lindiwe
Beginning her on-screen journey as a high school student in the Ngema household in Soweto, audiences have essentially watched both the actress and the character grow up before their very eyes.
Scandal! audiences watched as she made her way through a life filled with trials and tribulations that eventually led to her becoming the owner of a club and marrying Nhlamulo.
Lindiwe was such a grown-up, in fact, that she and her on-screen husband, Nhlamulo, recently became pregnant – a dream come true for the beautiful couple. She then started feeling ill and found out that she had a chronic illness.
“As her condition worsened, she was forced into a choice between the survival of her baby or having an abortion to ensure her own survival. Lindiwe decided that after all she had gone through in life, she would take the risk of keeping her baby, and fight to the bitter end,” explained eTV in a statement.
The character of Lindiwe Ngema took her last breath on Thursday, 10 November, and the character was laid to rest at a major funeral days later.
READ NEXT: ‘RIP Lindiwe’ – Scandal! actress Nomvelo Makhanya prepares for her final scene
