Israel Matseke Zulu

‘They said I stepped on muthi & was going to die’ – Israel on his gangrene. Image via Instagram @israelmatsekezulu

‘They said I stepped on muthi & was going to die’ – Israel on his gangrene

‘Gomora’s’ Israel Matseke-Zulu says people told him he stepped on muthi and doctors told him he has diabetes before they knew it’s gangrene.

Israel Matseke Zulu

‘They said I stepped on muthi & was going to die’ – Israel on his gangrene. Image via Instagram @israelmatsekezulu

Seasoned actor Israel Matseke-Zulu – who’s known for playing Don in Gomora reveals he was told he had a calling and needed to go to initiation schools and doctors told him they only saw symptoms of someone with diabetes when he actually had gangrene.  

It took a lot of going from pillar to post for him to get a proper diagnosis and before long, he was told he has to amputate his leg.  

ALSO READ:‘We are not dying anytime soon’: Israel Matseke-Zulu to Zola 7 [WATCH]

ISRAEL MATSEKE-ZULU: HIS GANGRENE JOURNEY

The Gomora actor Israel Matseke-Zulu amputated his leg earlier this year after he was finally told by doctors that he had gangrene and informed by sangomas that he had a calling and he needed to be a healer.

Matseke-Zulu tells Drum Magazine that it all started with a sore on his toe, which grew and became severely painful, and before long, it was difficult for him to walk.

He sought both medical and traditional help until a friend told him he had to amputate his leg and he was scared of being an embarrassment and having to make adjustments to his life.

“I was shocked as to what is happening to me. I suffered from cold feet, sometimes my feet were stiff, sometimes I would limp and sometimes I would get out of bed in the middle of the night and sit on the couch and I would feel better because when I go to bed the pain would be heavy,” he says.

He tells Drum that gangrene is caused by the lack of blood flow and he was even more shocked by that because when he wasn’t on set, he was a people’s trainer and was also keeping fit and always at the gym. His cells were blocked and didn’t function, and his feet ‘couldn’t breathe’ anymore, he explains.

“It is like the feet died while you are alive. My best friend, who is a doctor, told me to go for amputation. I think I agreed the fourth time because my condition was worse, I became critical, and I couldn’t walk.”

ALSO READ:Israel Matseke-Zulu: ‘I was in hell & cancelled 4 times before amputation’

‘SANGOMAS SAID I WAS BEWITCHED’  

The filmmaker and musician also tells the publication that he cried for seven nights before agreeing to the procedure in a hospital in Mpumalanga.  

“I thought I was going to die because some people kept on telling me that I am bewitched, I stepped on umuthi and it got into my body and that will travel to my heart and I will die. But now that I didn’t die, I found an opportunity to live again.  

“As an icon and inspirational role model and the person who is respected in the community, I took this whole thing otherwise but when I lost my leg I found the courage to do more.”  

The star is grateful for the ability to tell his own story because he got into the acting and the music industry because of his love for storytelling. 

ALSO READ:‘Gomora’: Israel Matseke-Zulu goes public after leg amputation [photos]