SABC insiders claim Melusi Yeni routinely forgot his lines

Yeni joined the cast of the popular SABC1 soap opera as smooth-talking labour lawyer Phenyo Mazibuko in early 2012, following a stint in M-Net’s high-budget, short-lived drama series ‘The Wild’. After just a year and half on the show, his departure came as quite a surprise, with the official announcement in July providing no real insight into the reasons for his leaving.

But the Daily Sun reports that SABC insiders have divulged that the actor was sacked because he was “slow”, and that he also didn’t do himself any favours by recently demanding more money.

“Melusi always forgets his lines. There were too many cuts because he kept on getting his lines wrong,” a source said. “Producers complained to the soapie’s creator, Mfundi Vundla, about Melusi’s performance,” claims another.

“He wasted the studio crew’s time. He’s a good actor but the problem lies with his (in)ability to narrate the story. Video editors struggled to cut and paste Melusi’s words together.”

On the subject of Yeni’s request for more money, another explained: “Mfundi felt that he couldn’t give Melusi a raise as he struggled to say his lines from the script and this was holding crew members back.”

However, when contacted by the newspaper for comment, the actor dismissed these claims, saying he is a professional and that “people are always gossiping”.

Echoing Yeni’s sentiment ‘Generations’ publicist Nyagunda Ngwenya said: “Melusi is a professional and talented actor. And Generations doesn’t cut and paste scenes! We’re professionals. We’ve been around for 20 years and we’re still going strong.”

– TEAMtalk Media