Actress and entrepreneur Sophie Ndaba known for playing the iconic character of Queen Moroka on Generations recently sat down with Relebogile Mabotja and opened up about her tumultuous childhood and career.
Ndaba said when she was very young, her father was very ill and had one kidney.
Her mother was the breadwinner, and the family was in dire straits financially.
She added that her grandfather was from Zimbabwe. When she was eight-years-old, her mother sent her to live in Harare with her older sister who was already married with kids.
"That man was 'touchy feely'. I remember my grandmother saying, 'Don't allow men to touch or kiss you. They must greet you and move. Every time he said goodnight, he kissed me and put his tongue in my mouth," Ndaba said.
She went on to say that the lessons she learned from her grandmother helped her get away safely without the man escalating his inappropriate behaviour.
Her trouble was not over though as she went into a children's home and was later fostered by a wealthy couple that, she said, treated her horribly.
"About a month after I was there, that lady said kids don't sleep in bedrooms, they sleep outside. Me and the other two foster kids slept outside on a concrete floor, bathed in cold water, [and] never had lunch,"
Ndaba explained that this family was very rich, and their cruel acts confused her at the time.
"She was keeping up with appearances. She wanted people to know that she had a family. It was also to keep the husband because she could not have kids of her own," she said.
When her father visited her the following year on Christmas, he told her that she looked skinnier. Ndaba lied and said it was because all the sport she was playing but, her father saw beneath the facade and rescued her.
IOL