Actress now a pastor
THOSE old enough to have watched Mhuri yavaMukadota on national television, remember the mother of that house.
As we glued our eyes on the set, this enigma of a woman, swept across minds as a typical strong mother, with a weird, funny and temperamental husband, whom she often tamed effortlessly.
Susan Chenjerai featured as Mai Rwizi and she fitted well into that cast, that she became a real life caricature of that character and her cast husband, Safirio Madzikatire, a.k.a Mukadota also made it look real.
While her cast husband and son Rwizi are both dead, she is still alive and kicking
She is now a full time pastor with The New Gospel Church of God.
Entertainment career
Early in her entertainment career, Susan was part of the Bantu Actors in 1951 and with Marandellas Bush Babies in 1958.
A fateful chance encounter with Mukadota, was soon to take her to super stardom. Safirio was impressed when he heard her singing at a function in Majubeki (a section of Mbare). Although she was still at school, Safirio asked Susan to join his band. She joined Mukadota’s band, Safe Brothers, in 1969.
In the music industry Susan also worked with big names such as the Wagon Wheels, Oliver Mtukudzi and Jordan Chataika.
Susan was also an adept song writer. She is the one who wrote the hit song “KwaHunyani”. Mukadota later rerecorded the hit with Katarina.
When she started singing with Mukadota, she was working at Willards. She then got a job at OK and stopped touring with Mukadota.
On television, Susan played the character Mai Rwizi who was Mukadota’s wife. She portrayed the character in Mhuri yekwaMataka and later, Mhuri yaVaMukadota. She also played other roles including a mother in the biography of Dambudzo Marechera.
Ministry
Susan got saved in 1970. She got her calling to be a pastor after she got married in the 1970s. She and her husband began preaching around the farming communities.
She resigned from her job at OK and from acting in 1984. From then on, Susan has dedicated her life to full time ministry. She and her late husband headed the New Gospel Church of God.
This left a lot of her fans heartbroken. Susan, however, pressed on with her calling to preach the gospel on a full-time basis.
Susan returned to Mbare when her house in Banket was destroyed by fire. She now leads services at Shingirai Primary School every Sunday.
The New Gospel Church of God has branches in Mbare, Banket, Chinhoyi, Mutorashanga, Centenary, Mozambique and South Africa.
Background
Susan grew up in Fifth Avenue Mbare and attended Chitsere Primary School.
She was married to Apostle Lovemore Mobate and the couple had six daughters and three of them followed her footsteps into music.