Love Is All Around

Actor Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha and his wife Claudine share their secrets to a happy marriage

- Siya Tsewu

THEY’VE been married so long they finish each other’s sentences. After nearly four decades together, veteran actor Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha and his wife, Claudine, are like teens in love.

We catch up with the couple at our Auckland Park offices where Jerry (63) tucks into a fruit salad while stealing glances at Claudine (62), who is having her makeup done. It’s clear he only has eyes for her.

The veteran actor recently starred in M-Net’s Trackers and has two big-screen films set for release next year, but for now, he and Claudine are looking forward to having the family over for a feast on Christmas Day.

They love entertaining their five children and six grandchildren and Jerry lives for Claudine’s oxtail and dumplings.

He was 22 when they met, yet marriage was the furthest thing from his mind because he was recovering from a broken heart. The girl he was in love with at the time had been sent to boarding school in North West but when she returned to Soweto in June that year, he learned she had run away with a teacher.

“I was shattered,” Jerry tells us. “I went to God and He and I had a frank conversation where I set down my terms. I knew if He had taken her away from me then surely He had something better in store.

“In my prayer, I told God women are heartbreakers and I did not want a replacement or a substitute. I vowed to only revisit the idea of a relationship the following year.” Fate, however, had other plans. Two months after his chat with God, Jerry met Claudine. “I was taking one of my mentee’s home when I saw his sister at their home,” he recalls. “I had two problems with my attraction to her: first, I did not believe in love at first sight. There was no way I could be in love with someone I had just met.