ROHR Zimbabwe

02 April 2019

ROHR Zimbabwe’s Magadaline Moyo continues to shine in her networking and advocacy work

It is not every day that one gets to brush shoulders with a celebrity, let alone share the stage with them.

But when Magadaline Moyo was invited to speak at Hepden Bridge Film festival 2019 on 24^th March 2019 at Hepden Bridge Picture House, she took it in stride due to her longstanding networking and advocacy work for ROHR Zimbabwe, at the helm of the Zimbabwean human rights organization’s LGBT thematic group.

Hepden Bridge Film festival 2019 which was running from 22^nd to 24^th March 2019 was being graced by a number of celebrities, including Kenyan actress, Sheila Munyiva.

Magadaline Moyo did not disappoint, considering she was coming on stage after rising star Kenyan actress Sheila Munyiva’s film “Rafiki” had just been screened, and that she was addressing a packed audience at the imposing Hepden Bridge Picture House.

Magadaline Moyo mainly spoke about the struggle her LGBT community encountered in Zimbabwe, in the face of an uncompromising regime and a deliberately vague legal framework when it comes to LGBT matters. Add to this a very conservative society behind which a brutal regime was only too glad to hide as it trampled upon the rights of a considerable and vulnerable portion of the Zimbabwean society.

She drew comparisons between what was happening in Kenya, as highlighted by the film “Rafiki” and by the very fact that the film had been banned in Kenya and what was happening in Zimbabwe where gays and lesbians are leading a “hide and seek” life for fear of persecution.

Her speech drew deafening applause, a sign that she had articulated issues adeptly.