Resha was born in 1923 in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as the second of nine children. ‘Matabello’ is a Sesotho name which means ‘Hope’. Her second name, ‘Magdeline,’ was a name she received during her christening. She was named after her grandfather's eldest brother's wife. Maggie Resha was the daughter of Tsekiso Tsiu and Moselantja Mokhele. Resha's father Tsekiso Tsiu was the son of Moselantja Mokhele. Moselantja Mokhele, Matabello's grandmother, was the daughter of a prestigious farmer in the Eastern Cape and was married to an Anglican missionary. The father of Matabello's grandmother, her great-grandfather, Tsekiso Tsiu, was related to the royal Lesotho family.
