Veteran actor William Matenga, who made generations of Zimbabweans laugh as Gweshe Gweshe in the television comedy Gringo, has died. He was 65, according to The Herald and Pindula News.

Matenga died in the early hours of Saturday morning, 31 October, at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare, where he had been receiving treatment, Pindula reported. His daughter confirmed the death to ZBC News, Pindula said. The Herald, quoting family sources, said he died this morning at a local medical facility and that mourners had gathered in Zengeza 5, Chitungwiza.

No cause of death has been officially given, and iHarare reported that no funeral arrangements had been announced by Saturday morning. One outlet, 3-mob, gave his age as 63; The Herald and Pindula both put it at 65.

A household name

Matenga "rose to prominence as Gweshegweshe in the drama series Gringo, becoming a familiar face in Zimbabwean households and earning a special place among viewers," The Herald's entertainment editor, Tafadzwa Zimoyo, wrote.

Gringo, created by veteran scriptwriter Enock Chihombori, became one of Zimbabwe's best-known television comedies after it first aired in the late 1990s, ZimEye reported. Matenga's Gweshe Gweshe was often at the centre of the mischief caused by Gringo, played by the late comedian Lazarus Boora. ZimEye noted that the late Stembeni Makawa, who played Mai Gweshe Gweshe, completed the on-screen pairing that helped make the show a family favourite.

Matenga returned to the role in the 2013 production Gringo The Troublemaker, again alongside Boora, iHarare reported.

A long career on stage, radio and TV

His acting career went back much further than Gringo. ZimEye reported that Matenga began performing in 1984, was a journalist by profession, and appeared in a range of radio and television productions over the years.

His death comes almost six years after Boora, the show's title star, died in November 2020, ZimEye noted. With both leading men now gone, the loss closes another chapter on what many viewers remember as a golden era of locally made Zimbabwean television drama.

Why it matters

For many Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora, Gringo was a programme families watched together on ZBC TV, and its characters became part of everyday humour. That is why news of Matenga's death was widely shared on X and other social media on Saturday morning, within hours of the first reports.

He is the latest of the show's original cast to die, after Boora in 2020 and Makawa, ZimEye noted, leaving the comedy that defined a generation of Zimbabwean television without its best-known faces.

Zimbo Grapevine will update this story when the family or the arts sector announces funeral and memorial arrangements.

Sources: The Herald, 31 Oct 2026: https://www.heraldonline.co.zw/new-popular-gringo-actor-gweshegweshe-dies/ · Pindula News, 31 Oct 2026: https://news.pindula.co.zw/2026/10/31/veteran-actor-gweshe-gweshe-has-died/ · ZimEye, 31 Oct 2026: https://www.zimeye.net/2026/10/31/gweshe-gweshe-dies/ · iHarare, 31 Oct 2026: https://iharare.com/veteran-gringo-actor-william-matenga-known-as-gweshe-gweshe-dies-at-65/ · 3-mob, 31 Oct 2026: https://3-mob.com/entertainment/william-matenga-gringos-gweshe-gweshe-has-died/

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