Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Thembelihile Moyo is one of eight children, and the mother of two daughters. After graduating from high school, she taught at her school for four years, using her creativity to write dramas for students to perform during assemblies and prize giving days. Thembie studied Journalism and Media at Amakhosi Arts Academy, and she enrolled in an evening course specializing in theatre, film, producing, and directing, graduating with a Diploma in Creative Arts in 2005, and a Diploma in Media Studies and Journalism in 2006.
Thembelihile’s plays include Colour Blue (2010), Let it Out (2014), The Prophetic Place and the one-act play, Who Said I Don’t Want to Dance, about a young widow and the challenges she faces after the death of her husband. The latter play was presented by Philadelphia’s Pulley and Buttonhole Theatre in their 2018/19 season. Her play, I Want to Fly, about an African girl who wants to be a pilot, is anthologized in Contemporary Plays by African Women (Methuen, 2019) and Extracts – Cambridge University Press “Cambridge Lower Secondary English Stage 9 & Pakistan English Textbook” UK, 2020. It had its first Canadian reading online in February 2022, presented by Regina’s Globe Theatre.
Thembelihile is actively involved with Women Playwrights International (WPI) and the African Women’s Playwrights Network (AWPN). She participated in the AWPN’s first symposium for African women, “Breaking Boundaries: African Women Writing on the Edges of Race, Gender and Identity” in 2017, and her play, I Want to Fly, was presented at the AWPN’s second symposium in 2019.
Thembie also writes for Zimbabwean television, with credits including Sibahle Nje (2011), winner of the Best Screenwriter 2012 Amakhosi Cultural Arts Award; Isipho Sami (2015); and Ezakomatshelela (2018). She has also written the feature film, Nomhle (2011).
Thembelihile is the founder and the creative director of Gitiz Arts Organization, which has developed Dance Zimbabwe and Dance Remedial Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. This initiative feeds her passion to help nurture and mentor young performers. She has written two books about dance: Contemporary Dance in Zimbabwe (2016) and Total Traditional Dances (2016).
Thembie also directs. Select credits include Song of a Woman, It’s Not Gold, and Voices of Solo Women. She also won the Bulawayo Arts Award for Directing and Producing, the award-winning TV drama, Ezakomatshelela, in 2019.
Thembie is a visiting playwright and lecturer at the University of Victoria in 2022-2023, working with both the Faculty of Fine Arts and Equity and Human Rights.
Thembie is fluent in Ndebele, Shona, Zulu, Xhosa and English.