Who do they think they are?

SOUTH African celebrities will trace their roots when a local version of British documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? begins later this month.

In the first episode of the local version, Scandal! actress Nthati Moshesh travels to Lesotho to discover she is the great-great-granddaughter of legendary Basotho King Moshoeshoe, who founded the mountain kingdom.

The six-part documentary series, which begins on Sunday, takes the featured celebrity on a personal journey to trace their ancestors through archives and distant relatives.

Also to feature on the series are Eastern Mosaic presenter Candice Moodley, rapper Jabulani HHP Tsambo, Isidingo actor Meshack Mavuso, SABC Afrikaans news anchor Riaan Cruywagen and comedian Kurt Schoonraad.

Moodley, pregnant with her third child, said she was apprehensive about doing the show because she did not know what skeletons were hidden in her family’s closets.

“This was an opportunity of a lifetime, but I was not quite sure what dark secrets I might reveal of my family by digging up all these questions about where I come from,” she said.

But she discovered her paternal great-grandmother came to South Africa as an indentured labourer from India and her paternal great- grandfather was one of the first traders from the subcontinent to settle in Durban, where he sold saris and spices.

“It was like opening a box of mysteries. And I was so proud of my family when I discovered how we landed in South Africa and who we really are,” said Moodley.

The British series is currently being broadcast on the BBC Knowledge channel. -The Times