Novelist, playwright and actor Aaron Chiundura Moyo, claims to have discovered the late former actress Mai Sorobhi’s acting gift in Dema, Seke rural, in the early 1990s.
Mai Sorobhi, whose real name was Rhoda Mtembe, died on Monday morning at Harare Central Hospital after suffering a stroke. She was 79.
Speaking to NewsDay Life & Style, Moyo said he was the one who referred Mtembe to scriptwriter, director and television producer Agnes Gwatiringa, who scripted and directed the Paraffin drama series. He said:
Back then, there were many drama clubs and they worked on dramas themed around domestic violence.
The then Radio 4 and Radio 2 were invited to cover. I was representing Radio 2 and Lynnette Mawire was representing Radio 4.
I ended up judging dramas during that function. I then called Mtembe (Mai Sorobhi) in public after her team won and proclaimed that she would be famous.
I told her that she would do well in acting than in comedy because before she even acts, her face would have already acted.
Moyo said he later connected Mai Sorobhi to Gwatiringa, who was a ZBC-TV producer working with the late actor Phillip Gadzikwa Mushangwe, who was popularly known as Paraffin.
Gwatiringa said that Mai Sorobhi was a skilled actress who did not need much directing. She said:
I vividly remember my first encounter with Rhoda Mtembe, the vivacious Mai Sorobhi as she walked towards me in the auditioning room with a naughty smile on her face and rolling eyeballs of a young girl.
Even before listening to her voice, I was certain that she got the position as Paraffin’s wife in Pfuma Yenhaka Inoparadza Ukama Part 1 series. I was looking for one mischievous naughty character to be the wife to the notorious Paraffin.
Mtembe was invited to the Full Force Production Group auditions for Pfuma Yenhaka Inoparadza Ukama Part 1 by Kenneth Ndingindwayo, who was a member of the group as we encouraged actors in the group to identify talent out there.
There were more than 10 female artistes fighting for Mai Sorobhi’s position and it so happened that Ndingindwayo worked with Mai Sorobhi at the Harare City Council, where she was a health worker in the community.
Mai Sorobhi rose to fame in the early 1990s in the drama series Paraffin which made her a household name.
Before venturing into acting, Mai Sorobhi worked for the City of Harare as a health promoter at a clinic in Glen View.