I'm Nothing Like Evil Mcethe!

Pakamisa Zwedala is the opposite of the evil character he plays in Mzansi’s Isikizi. He tells us how he prepares for the role and how even his mom hates Mcethe

- Khosi Biyela

WHEN you see him in action it’s like witnessing a car crash: you don’t want to look but it’s hard to drag your eyes away. He’s the most evil character on South African TV and so universally loathed it’s hard to separate fiction from reality when this guy is dominating the screen. Power-mad, merciless, violent and an all-round nasty piece of work – that’s Mcethe, the man whose vileness fills our living rooms every Sunday evening in Mzansi Magic’s Isikizi. Mcethe will stop at nothing to dethrone the current chief and ascend the throne. Who can forget how he dug up his own father’s grave to cut off the dead man’s finger? How he raped the chief ’s wife? All those people he betrayed and ruined and killed? And all because the witchdoctor told him it was the only way to get the power he so desperately craves. It’s not easy to watch this creep in action – so spare a thought for the man who plays him. Yes, Pakamisa Zwedala says, it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. He’s doing it so well, in fact, people often can’t distinguish between the actor and his character. People come up to him in the street and ask him why he hasn’t been arrested and how he can justify doing what he does. The 32-year-old actor takes it in his stride, though. “It means I’m doing a good job,” he says. Yet he admits getting into a character so dark does take some concentration. To mentally prepare himself he even changes the kind of music he listens to before going on set. “I love hip hop and jazz but I listen to rock and alternative music to be able to play Mcethe,” he says. Pakamisa also never wears any of his own clothes – apart from his underwear – when he slips into character as he wants nothing of