Strictly’s Motsi Mabuse recalls teachers calling her racial slurs at school under South African apartheid

Dancer and TV judge says nuns at her convent school would hit Black children

Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse has opened up about her experiences of racism as a child living under apartheid.

The South African-German dancer grew up near Pretoria with her sister, former two-time Strictly champion Oti.

The family lived under apartheid in the country, with Motsi discussing the racism she was subjected to at her convent school as a child in a new interview.

“I lived under apartheid until the age of nine, a very scary time,” she told Prima. “We lived in a Black-only suburb and I didn’t speak English when I first went to school.

“We went to a Catholic school and Black children were a minority. One of the nuns would call us ‘Black witches’ and hit us. I was terrified.”

Motsi joined Strictly as a judge in 2019, while her sister Oti announced earlier this year that she was leaving Strictly after seven series.

Motsi is joined on the judging panel for this year’s series, which begins later this month, by Craig Revel Horwood and Shirley Ballas. Anton Du Beke is also now a permanent judge on the show following the departure of Bruno Tonioli due to scheduling conflicts.

You can meet all the celebrities competing on Strictly 2022 here.

Strictly Come Dancing returns Saturday 17 September on BBC One.