IF YOU thought Ayanda Borotho was a traditional wife, you had better think again.
Although she is known for playing Phumelele, the down- to-earth wife of Mpiyakhe Zungu on Isibaya, in real life she is an elegant, modern woman.
Speaking about Phumelele, the 37-year-old said: “She doesn’t have fashion sense. She’s a 45-year-old rural woman in a polygamous marriage and dresses very plainly.
“However, she is humble and her wisdom makes her a pillar of strength to the Zungu family. Her weakness is that she puts everyone else first.”
Ayanda said she felt honoured that she was playing a character who was older than she really is.
“I am fulfilled since I am walking in an older person’s shoes. It enables me to see things from the perspective of a woman outside of myself,” she said.
When Ayanda is not on set she runs a communications company called Lechem Consulting.
She said she studied at the AAA advertising school and worked in the corporate world for five years.
“I quit my job after I spent four days without seeing my daughter, even though we were living in the same house,” she said.
Ayanda got her first TV role in 2007 when she played the small part of a schoolgirl in SABC1’s Generations. Her first lead role was on the sitcom Nomazamo.
She joined the cast of Isibaya in 2013.
Ayanda, who was born in Ntuzuma near Durban, said her schoolmates used to call her “Felicia Mabuza-Suttle” because she was always interested in activism.
Her next role will be in the e.tv drama, Ambitions, playing the unhappy wife of a powerful politician.
