Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

MR Philani Moyo is one of the few blacks that have broken new ground and ventured into the core of the white-dominated tourism rafting industry in Victoria Falls.

Born in January 1979 in a family of 10 children in Jembwe outside Victoria Falls and from very humble beginnings; attending Chisuma Primary School barefooted and without a school uniform, Moyo’s life has transformed and he now gets counted in the “who-is-who” of Victoria Falls city through his business.

Mr Moyo owns Shockwave Adventures Rafting Company, one of the only four rafting companies in Victoria Falls, which he started in 2002 after working as a rafting guide at Shearwater Adventures for 10 years.

Shearwater, Wild Horizons and Khanondo make the other three rafting companies in Victoria Falls.

Mr Moyo, also known as Maqonda, a nickname derived from his grandfather’s name, is a professional river rafting guide, businessman, actor, pastor and philanthropist who has donated to needy communities and schools, in and around Victoria Falls.

His business portfolio includes Shockwave, Homenet Café which he opened in 2000, a supermarket, butchery and farm, which employ a combined 36 permanent workers, with a fleet of 10 vehicles.

Mr Moyo is a member of the Zimbabwean National Team River Rafting Guides where he is a captain and his company has been the highest-rated rafting company on TripAdvisor out of more than 200 competitors worldwide.

He has helped on numerous occasions to retrieve the bodies of drowned people on the Zambezi River in Victoria Falls.

In 2019 when Cyclone Idai hit Manicaland and other countries, Mr Moyo led a team of rafters from his company with equipment on a rescue mission in Chimanimani.

He has widely donated school uniforms, sanitary pads, masks and building material for many schools and communities especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The businessman has initiated empowerment programmes for women and youths to self-sustain and abstain from drug and substance abuse, and in the process has created job opportunities in the value chain for over 500 locals in Victoria Falls.

Through Youth Build, a community-based youth programme that integrates academic achievement, work experience, social action, leadership development and personal transformation for volunteers, he helps young people abstain from drugs, early teenage pregnancies and ultimately get empowered.

Because of his work, Moyo was awarded the second runner up award from the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce in 2012 for the most successful businessperson.

He holds 10 kayaking medals, including two gold, bronze and silver medals, as well as the Achievement Award and the Chairman’s Award, and holds the TripAdvisor Company of the year for five consecutive years since 2017.

During his working days in the USA, Moyo was once awarded  Timberline’s best international guide.

He was recently honoured with an achievement award for significant contributions to humanitarian work and community development under the authority of the Council for Churches in Africa, while in 2021 the Association of Churches appointed him peace coordinator for Matabeleland North.

He was elected president of the United African Apostolic Church (UAAC) in 2008 and has risen through the church’s ranks to become overseer.

A fortnight ago Moyo graduated with a degree in Theology from Immanuel University of Theology International.

“As a pastor, I have addressed thousands of congregants with a lot of prominent people like Presidents, Ambassadors and the Christian community gatherings. I have made several humanitarian interventions and that has earned me the philanthropist tag and one of the most influential people in Victoria Falls and Matabeleland North,” said Mr Moyo.

His vision revolves around 10 priority areas covering education, health, safety and security, economic growth and employment, skills development, rural development, human settlements, environment, international relations, public sector, infrastructural development or nation-building and social cohesion.

At the age of 22, Moyo was a licensed guide and attracted the attention of some companies in Europe where he was given an opportunity to raft in Italy, Spain, Australia, Peru, France and many others before moving to the USA where he rafted with the world rafting team.

As a hard-working young man, he did rafting tours in the morning and would work in a restaurant in the afternoon before becoming a bartender at night. 

“My poor background forced me into getting a job as a teenager where I worked as a porter while also selling buns along the Zambezi River to raise money for survival. I later trained as a rafting guide and moved in to stay with my late father Elliot Moyo in Victoria Falls town,” Mr Moyo said.

His mother Dorah Ncube is a retired domestic worker who has been Zanu-PF women’s chairperson for Jembwe for the past 30 years while his late father also worked at Victoria Falls City Council before retiring after 30 years.

Mr Moyo is also a politician and Zanu-PF Secretary for Science and Technology in the Main Wing Matabeleland North provincial structures. 

“As a man of God, I received my calling in 2003 after experiencing mysterious dreams and visions. I felt I was compelled by the Holy Spirit and gave my life to Christ. I am an ordained Archbishop of UAAC and I feel I was chosen by God to communicate his word,” said Mr Moyo who is also the spokesperson for the UAAC Zimbabwe with 42 branches.

He is one of the greatest river rafting guides on the Zambezi River and has inspired many young people through his unique style.

The idea behind starting his own business was driven by the desire to change his life and that of his family, train and employ local youth,  as well as promote kayaking in Zimbabwe after he realised that locals were being side-lined.

As a sportsman, Moyo won the Zimbabwe Kayaking Championship which earned him a slot into the world Kayaking Champs and African Championships in 2000.

After registering his company, he captained his team to victory in the River Rafting Championships Race against five European countries on the Zambezi River in 2012, after starting as underdogs in the competition.

That earned him the moniker The Greatest.

Mr Moyo said everything he has done for the community is not donor funded as he uses proceeds from the work he has done over the years.

He recently visited the Ndlovu area where a school and homesteads were damaged by a storm outside Victoria Falls and donated foodstuffs to the six families while he is working on donating furniture to Ndlovu Secondary School.

He is a sports fan and benefactor who has bankrolled his rural home team Jembwe United F.C which competed in the Zifa Division 2.

The team once competed in the Unity Cup and got knocked off in the semi-finals in Lupane after beating all teams in Matabeleland North,  and had they won, they would have faced Highlanders FC at White City Stadium in the next stage.

Mr Moyo sponsored the club with kits, training balls, and salaries for players, transport and food.

For the past decade he has been sponsoring for the local social soccer league in Kachechete ward covering areas around the Zambezi River and Jembwe and bankrolls some tournaments including netball, chess as well as school’s   sport.

He donated a pump to Mvuthu dip tank for clean water supply. He has helped with clean water sources in BH2, BH3, BH4, BH 9, BH 24, BH37, BH 55, BH127, Chidobe 2, Chewumba, Matetsi, Sikumbi and others where boreholes have been drilled and some installed with solar systems and storage facilities.

As a farmer, Mr Moyo practises cattle ranching and crop production and most of his produce goes to charity.

 He built a crèche in his rural Jembwe in 2005, a block at Chisuma primary, and assists more than 100 learners with scholarships.

Mr Moyo runs a programme called Philani’s Local Economic Development  (PLED) in Lubangwe and Monde to encourage local people to work together to achieve sustainable economic growth and development thereby bringing economic benefits and improved quality of life.

He has spearheaded a number of water projects in Matabeleland North where he has sunk several boreholes for communities and schools. 

Mr Moyo is married to Resistance Sibanda and the couple has six children. -@ncubeleon