Actress Grace Mahlaba, who was famously known for her role as Principal Ipeleng Theledi in Backstage hasn’t appeared on South African TV for a few years now.

Where is she now?

 

WHERE IS GRACE MAHLABA?
TVSA reports that actress Grace Mahlaba played the role of Ipeleng Theledi on the e.tv soapie, Backstage in 2002.

The actress and writer has also played roles on Jacob’s Cross as Paul’s Wife Refiloe and Society as Aus’ Lala.

The publication adds that Mahlaba also acted as one of the judges for the Backstage EMI Superstar Search in 2005 as Ipeleng.

Entertainment commentator, Phil Mphela reported in 2021 that Mahlaba was promoted at Scandal! from creative producer to head writer.

 

Sunday World confirms that the former Backstage star Grace Mahlaba is Scandal!’s current head writer and creative producer.

Mahlaba this week opened up about Scandal!’s competitor, Skeem Saam which recently moved from 18:30 timeslot to 19:30.

She added that Skeem Saam is not a threat to the e.tv soapie because the shows are totally different.

“Competition has always been there for us; it

is just that SABC had different shows on the timeslot, but we had the staying power. Time will tell if we are confident of the stories that we tell and if we are not going to sleep or slumber. Our worst-case scenario is that we will have to share the audience,” says Mahlaba.

She admits that she never thought she would last more than a year at Scandal! and that she joined the show to learn what happens behind the scenes.

“After I finished Backstage, I wanted to learn more about writing and where it is going in terms of women. I had been worried for years because I felt like the people who were writing for these female characters were a bit out of touch,” she says.

Mahlaba, who’s been with the e.tv soapie for 14 years says she got lucky because she speaks, reads and writes all South African languages.