Tilda Moyo – Guided by the Lord in Broadcasting Hot Issues

Tilda Moyo

By Tapfuma Machakaire   29/11/2022

As the media in Zimbabwe strives to discharge its duties of informing, educating and entertaining the public, rarely do they dig deep into gory subjects such as Satanism, witchcraft, child prostitution and stories of immorality involving respected people in the community who include business people and priests. It takes a courageous and creative journalist to conceptualize stories or programmes that address weird and sometimes sensitive subjects and still remain relevant and command a huge following.

Veteran radio producer and presenter, Tilda Moyo, has built a reputation through her no holds barred programmes that discuss everything about anything on topics that are shunned by her colleagues in the media.

Often such programmes have an element of investigative journalism which involves surreptitious methods of gathering information and can easily land a journalist into trouble. Moyo often finds herself in the courts on cases emanating from her radio programmes and she seems to thrive on controversy.

In May 2017, Moyo was in court as a state witness on a case in which she “tricked” self-proclaimed Harare prophet Onbert Mapfumo into appearing on her show where he was to be confronted by his alleged rape victims. Moyo told the court that the complainants were not raped since they consented to engaging in sex with their pastor.

She said one of the alleged victims agreed during her show that she “fornicated” with the prophet.

“I believe rape is engaging in sex with a person without his or her consent.In my opinion, I think these women were not raped because they were not forced into the act but they agreed with their pastor, hoping to get deliverance which they later found out was a trick,” Moyo told the court.

Giving background of how she picked the story Moyo said she received a message from an active participant on her live shows who indicated that there was a prophet abusing female church members. The listener provided contact details of the “abused” women.One of the women confirmed during Moyo’s show that the pastor told her that he had detected a problem in her womb which could only be removed using his erect male organ.

The live radio show which Moyo presented on a disc was played in court. Mapfumo was sentenced to 22 years in prison for raping two women. The high court later quashed the sentence and conviction with the judge arguing that although Mapfumo’s treatment method were disgusting, the women voluntarily partook in the healing process.

At one time Moyo’s Facebook account was hacked by a person whose intention may have been to tarnish her image. This came to light in March 2018 when Moyo was being sued for US$150 000 by three men who appeared on her alleged Facebook Page.

The trio of Aaron Kasirori, Tendai Chaparadza and Tafadzwa Maigurira, through their lawyer, Mudimu Law Chambers stated that Tilder published a false picture on her Facebook page called Tilder Live Zim Star FM secrets and confessions alleging that the three were murderers.

In her response Moyo said it was unfortunate that the Facebook account referred was not hers.

In May 2019 Moyo was caught up in another controversial issue when she offered to assist a convicted paedophile. This was after some Zimbabweans had launched a call for the state to revisit a case in which 76-year-Fredie Chawatama who was serving a 35 year jail term for raping five children.

Moyo introduced the case on her radio show. Some of the people who spoke on the show were touched by Chawatama’s health condition, after it was revealed that his private parts were connected to a catcher and that special medical attention was required to remove the piece of equipment.

Moyo also ran a series of controversial programmes – The Closure DND and Tilda Live in which one Tinashe Mugabe and his partner Jane would release DNA paternity results to couples. In September 2021 the Medical laboratory and Clinic Scientists Council of Zimbabwe (MLCSCZ) issued a statement saying Tinashe Mugabe and Tilda Moyo were not qualified to publish paternity results.

MLCSCZ chair, Chari Mubvumbi Ranganayi said the duo was not professionally qualified to issue test results and he urged Zimbabweans “not to be coerced into receiving paternity results in such an unprofessional manner.”

Ranganayi condemned what he termed “unethical practice on the poor and the marginalised by Global DNA Zimbabwe and Expedite DNA Zimbabwe.” He said the two organisations were not members of both the Health Professional councils of Zimbabwe and MLCSCZ.

Moyo, however says all her programmes are designed to assist the ordinary people who may have run out of options to solve their problems. “I am pushed by love for people, it is sad to meet people who cannot assist themselves and each day I feel happy when I help someone, but it is not easy. I get threats from various people when I am tackling issues, but I am not shaken. I believe God is there to look after me and at the end of the day I emerge victorious.”

She says one incident she won’t forget is when she was doing a programme about children who had been given rings by Satanists. “I invited the children to the studio and they narrated their ordeal .One of the kids died when we were still making a follow up and the alleged perpetrators kept calling and threatening to deal with me. I became scared and almost gave up on the sad tale of the children, but I have faith that the Lord conquers.”

Moyo is a rare breed of a journalist who has gone out of her way to establish the Tilder Foundation Trust, a trust meant to empower and uplift communities.

On the Website of the Tilder Foundation Trust it is stated that “A huge part of the organisation’s work is to help alleviate poverty as well as give ex-convicts a second shot at life. We work to expose and tackle cases of domestic violence, rape, child abuse, drug and substance abuse as well as eradicating poverty through uplifting communities. We focus mainly on women, children and youths.”

Working with other partners, the Trust also assists some wrongfully convicted prisoners to get a fair trial.

Through the weekly show Behind Bars with Tete Tilder, the Trust also helps integrate former prisoners into society.

The Trust has assisted several needy families that include the Svova family which was abandoned by their father who was said to be cohabiting with another woman. It started with a video which went viral where one of the kids talked of how she wished Tete Tilda could hear of their plight.

A campaign was launched to mobilize resources to help the Svova Family out of their desperate situation.The campaign received a positive response and is now assisting the family with school fees, construction of a three-bedroomed house, food and is in the process of drilling a borehole, and installing solar electricity at the homestead.

Another beneficiary of the Trust is Lydia Tauya, a mother to three boys who suffer from muscular dystrophy.The foundation provided wheelchairs,fifty bags of mealie-meal, cooking oil and diapers and is paying school fees for the three boys. It also sourced a company that committed to drilling a borehole at Lydia’s homestead,

Tilda Moyo was born at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo on 1 May 1966. She went to Induba primary in Pelandaba and later Founders High for her secondary education.  She joined ZBC Radio 2 as a presenter in 1986 after completing her journalism course.

She made a name for herself through a Sunday morning phone-in no-holds barred program Zvinoitika Muhupenyu which touched on a variety of issues. She joined Star FM in 2013 where she continued with her intriguing programmes. Moyo has a message for young journalists: “I say be original, know your job, be ethical and know that once you are famous, your life is a book open to everyone to read. When you make a silly mistake the papers will sell like hot cakes because you are a celebrity.”

She currently presents the programme Tilda Show every Tuesday from 9pm to midnight and Sundays Secrets and Confessions show from 3am to 6am on Star FM. On Tuesday she hosts the Couple’s Hour from 11 pm till midnight. Moyo also presented popular music show Ezomgido on ZTV. She is married to Karizamimba.The couple has four children a boy and three girls.