Walter Mokoena is one of South Africa’s seasoned sports and television personalities, well known for his active role in sports journalism, founder of news App Joburg, and currently a special advisor to the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture. Born into the family of Aaron German Mokoena and Betty Velephi Nene in 1978, Walter is the first child of his parents and has three siblings, two brothers and a sister.
His broadcasting career began in 1998 when he got a job with Heart FM, he was also working as a freelance soccer correspondent with City Press newspaper at the same time. He has since gone ahead to build a successful career for himself in the sports/ entertainment industry.
Walter Mokoena Is Currently Married To Jacob Zuma’s Daughter
He is currently married to his long-term girlfriend, Nosizwe Vuso, now known as Nosizwe Mokoena. Although not his biological daughter, Nosizwe was raised in Zuma’s family alongside her twin sister. She and Walter started dating in 2013 and though they are a celebrity couple, we do not know how exactly they met.
The couple got married in a very private ceremony back in 2016, having dated for about three years. The wedding was well attended by guests from the entertainment industry, as well as SA’s political class, with the ex-president, Jacob Zuma walking the bride down the
aisle. The children of the couple, Thando and Ruth, were also in attendance. Thando is Walter’s first child from his relationship with Thusi Pearl while Ruth is the love child between Walter and Nosizwe, they obviously had the child before tying the knot.
When news about his wedding to Nosizwe began to make
headlines, Walter granted Sowetan Live an interview where he spoke lovingly about his then-fiancé, Nosizwe. He talked about how humble and down to earth she is and how blessed he is to have found her.
He Had A Child With Pearl Thusi But They Were Never Married
Before his marriage with Nosizwe, Walter dated the popular South African actress and model, Pearl Thusi. Their relationship became well-publicized sometime in 2010. Contrary to public opinion, Walter and Thusi were never married to each other. Some sources have it that the couple were even engaged to be married at some point but the marriage never happened. In 2018, Thusi made an appearance in the talk show Real Talk where she revealed a lot about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Walter Mokoena to the host of the show, Anele Mdoda.
She told viewers about how turbulent the relationship had been and how she discovered she was pregnant with her first child who is now fondly known as Thando. At the time she was pregnant, Thusi was still a first-year student, studying Drama at the University of Witwatersrand, and she had to drop out of school in order to take care of herself. She acknowledged that it was a difficult choice she had to make between the pregnancy and continuing with her education but she did choose the pregnancy and has never regretted it.
She has since gone back to school and now has a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. Owing to the fact that Thusi had a rough relationship with Walter, they had split up and gotten back together many times and in her words “Our relationship was not good the whole time; there were lots of tears and pain during my pregnancy”. They eventually split up and Thusi now raises their daughter as a single mother. They wouldn’t say what actually happened between them the whole time of splitting and getting back, they have decided to keep such details between them private.
Thusi once mentioned in an interview how she struggles to balance between her
career and taking care of Thando, she talked about how her daughter misses her any time she has to travel but then with the help of her father who loves and supports her, she scales through those difficult times.
Walter Mokoena And Pearl Thusi Might Be Getting Back Together
While Walter has since moved on with his life and settled down with his newfound love, Pearl has equally done so too. After her relationship with Walter, Thusi got engaged to another TV sports presenter, Robert Marawa. The engagement lasted a few months and they eventually broke it off and have remained good friends. Although Thusi has claimed to be single for many months, rumors are going on that she is currently dating Serge Ibaka, a professional Congolese-American basketballer, and they have been spotted together on a few occasions.
Sometime in May 2020, there were rounds of rumours going on about Walter and Thusi getting back together. Inquisitive fans even noticed that Walter was no longer wearing his wedding band, some even went ahead to notice that he had been posting more of Thusi’s pictures on social media than he has of his wife. Both Thusi and Walter have not come out to debunk or acknowledge these rumours, what we do know is that both of them have been good co-parents of their daughter, Thandolwethu which has earned them public admiration.
As if being a single mother is not hard enough, Thusi Pearl has taken yet another bold step in adopting a daughter. The pretty little girl, Okuhle Thusi joined the family sometime in 2019. The proud mum took to her social media handle to show off her new family member, she has also flaunted the girls in their own little family portraits and is said to even carry them along on set.
Walter Mokoena Is A Father To Three Amazing Daughters
Walter has 3 children, all daughters from both his past and present relationships. He has two with his current wife and one from his relationship with Thusi. He has been a kind and loving father to his children and has done his best to ensure that there is no rivalry between them, there seems to be a strong bond between the children despite being raised by different mothers.
His ex-girlfriend, Thusi, was once seen in a picture, holding one of Walter’s younger daughters on her lap. This was during the little girl’s 6th birthday party. There are also lots of pictures showing Walter and his children spending family time together and he even posts on his social media handles how lucky he is to have them.
Walter has seen his fans gushing over him as their role model because of the way he’s raising a family, especially in a situation where an ex is involved. They have applauded the level of maturity, both he and Thusi have shown in their quest for promoting strong family values.
