SIYABONGA KAMNQA
She might be wearing a bright smile, but award-winning TV actress Inathi-Inkosi Rhayi has been nursing a heartache.
The multi-talented Khayelitsha actress opened up to Vukani this week about losing both her parents in a space of a few months.
The first blow hit her in January this year when her mother, Nowanathi Peredayisi, passed away.
Inathi said it was a devastating moment for her as she was close to her mother.
Death struck again in her family when her father, Mongezi Peredayisi, succumbed to a short illness in September.
Said Inathi fighting back tears: “It’s been the toughest year of my life, my mom had a severe stroke attack in 2020 and since then she’s been in and out of hospital. She couldn’t speak or walk until her right leg was amputated due. Just when I was coming into terms with my mom’s passing and not even having fully recovered from the loss, then my father got sick.
“He was diagnosed with TB and also departed last month. So within an eight-month period I lost both my parents. It is really tough. My father’s passing came as a shock and really knocked me and my siblings so badly, especially because I was very close with both my parents. I spent most of my childhood with both of them. I could speak about anything with both of them and they were like my friends. I miss them everyday and get so emotional when I think how supportive they were to all seven of us as their children. I still cry when I think about them,” said an emotianal Inathi.
The actress said she was grateful for the support she got from her musician husband Zandisile Rhayi.
“I have been to hell and back. But he has been my rock throughout all these ordeals. In times like these it is always great to know you have someone that you can count on for support,” said Inathi.
