Akasia community hall filled as mourners pay final respects to late Presley Chweneyagae
The creative industry has come together to bid farewell to one of its brightest stars.
A memorial service for Presley Chweneyagae was held at the Mmabatho Convention Centre in Mahikeng on 3 June 2025. Picture: Simphiwe Nkosi/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - The Akasia community hall is filled to capacity, as mourners have come to pay their final respects to late award-winning actor Presley Chweneyagae.
The thespian died of respiratory issues last week.
The creative industry has come together to bid farewell to one of its brightest stars.
Chweneyagae rose to international fame with his breakout role in the Oscar-winning film Tsotsi in 2005 and audiences later came to know him as Cobra in the hit TV series, The River.
His castmates of the popular telenovela have remembered Chweneyagae as an astounding actor who embodied his characters.
The River producer Phathu Makwarela said, “Presley was layered, he was a man of deep feeling and enormous contradictions. There was light in him, dazzling, uncontainable light and yet through it all, he still always showed up, he still gave us his art, his generosity, his humour, his friendship.”
He added that Chweneyagae was a person who carried a lot of responsibility but always chose to put others first.
“It takes a rare kind of strength to carry both brilliance and burden and still choose to give joy to others, and Presley did that for us and for that we are truly grateful.”