Nkoshilathi Moyo
Activist-poet and human rights defender, Zimbabwe
Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo is a human rights activist, writer and artist based in the mining town of Kwekwe in central Zimbabwe. He has had Artists at Risk (AR)-Residencies in Berlin, Helsinki and Ghana.
Moyo uses various forms of art including poems, protest songs and writing to advocate for human rights and the application of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Born in 1987, Moyo started writing poems at the age of eleven. His first poem, ‘Ndini Mari Ndakumedzai’ (Money the root of all evil) was published by the Makonde Star. He’s since written numerous poems, protest songs and books challenging dictatorship and denouncing systematic human rights violations in Zimbabwe which resulted in political persecution.
He has written two books: ‘Robert Mugabe: From Freedom Fighter To The People’s Enemy'(2015) and ‘Zimbabwe: A Revolution Waiting To Happen’ (2015). He has released an album titled ‘Pisarema raNkosilathi’ (Psalms of Nkosilathi) a week before the fall of President Robert Mugabe.
His songs were played when Zimbabweans thronged the streets of Harare in November 2017 in protests against Mugabe’s dictatorship. Moyo was recognized internationally after sending Robert Mugabe a prison uniform marked ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ as a present when he turned 92 – and since then, has has become a target of various militia groups in Zimbabwe.
He is the co-founder and Director of the Zimbabwe Organization for Youth In Politics (Z.O.Y.P), a non-partisan youth organization seeking youth participation in electoral processes and citizenship rights defense.
His artistic work seeks to challenge the status quo and condemn Zimbabwe’s oppressive government.