18 |^22 AUGUST^2019 http://www.drum.co.za

T

HEapplausewasloudand
warm but she felt a twinge
of sadness as she stepped
onto the stage.
It wasn’t the first time
singer and actress Thembi
Mtshali-Jones was being
honoured, but her mind
kept wandering to the one person who
wasn’t in the audience: her husband,
EmrysJones.

Thembi(69)smiledbravelyasshe
accepted the living legend award at the
National Black Theatre Festival in North

Carolina in the US recently. In receiving
the accolade she joined the ranks of
global heavyweights Sidney Poitier, Den-
zel Washington and Oprah Winfrey.

“It means a lot to me,” Thembi tells us
now. “I’ve been honoured at home but to
get this recognition in America is proof
I’m appreciated globally.”

She can’t hide her grief though.
The veteran stage and TV star, famous
for playing Thoko in ’Sgudi ’Snaysi oppo-

site Joe Mafela, and MaNdlovu in e.tv’s
Imbewu: The Seed, desperately wishes
Emrys was still alive to share in her suc-
cess. “I miss him so much. Every part I

had, he was there rehearsing the lines
with me. He became a part of every char-
acter I portrayed.”
Thembi and Emrys were together for

17 years until a heart attack snatched
him away three years ago.
It’s the suddenness of his death that

still hurts so much, she says, recalling the
events of that awful day.
She woke up and went to the kitchen
of their Cape Town home to make coffee,

leaving Emrys asleep in their bedroom.
“I heard a noise coming from the bed-
room. I thought one of our paintings had

fallen off the wall and hit the door.”
She hurried back to the room and
found her husband on the floor.
“I pressed the panic button,” she recalls.

“Everything happened so fast.”

IT’S SO

BITTERSWEET

Veteran actress Thembi Mtshali-Jones has

been honoured with a living legend award,

but the milestone was tinged with sadness

BY KHOSI BIYELA

The ’Sgudi ’Snaysi cast, (from left) Daphney Hlomuka,

Don Mlangeni Nawa, Joe Mafela, Thembi Mtshali-

Jones, a young Shugasmakx and Gloria Mudau.