Obama shakes Zimbabwean activist Jenni Williams' hand while Magondonga Mahlangu looks on.

More about those awards last night.

Most importantly Zimbabwean activists Magondonga Mahlangu and Jenni Williams were awarded the The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award this year. The two women representing Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were awarded for their courageous human rights activism in Zimbabwe. WOZA, says its website, creates space to allow Zimbabweans to articulate issues they may be too fearful to raise alone. It has conducted hundreds of protests since 2003 and over 3,000 women and men have spent time in police custody, many more than once and most for 48 hours or more.

And secondly after the American president presented the award to the two women he and Michelle Obama slipped out of the room prematurely, but seconds later they were sent back. Obama sheepishly said “I’m allowed to stay… I never know what I’m allowed to do.”

Remarks by Jenni Williams and Magondonga Mahlangu on receiving their awards last night:

Magondonga Mahlangu:

Good evening Mr. President, Mrs. Obama, members of Congress and the diplomatic corps, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great honour to be standing here accepting this award tonight and I thank you. The accolade of winning the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award should be a cause for great celebration. Yet, I find that even as I stand here, humbled and grateful, for the recognition, I find little to celebrate.

The Global Political Agreement signed in September of last year should also have been a cause for celebration. This agreement brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was to be a foundation for dialogue and cooperation between political parties. A year later, however, we find ourselves in a situation of great uncertainty and violence.

Human rights defenders continue to be targeted for arbitrary arrest, harassment, torture and abduction by state agents. Oppressive laws designed to silence democratic voices are still in place and still being used against us. My colleague, Jenni Williams, and I return to court on 7 December, facing charges of disturbing the peace for saying that people need food aid. We are facing five years in prison.

WOZA

This harassment is also visited upon ordinary citizens. A badly paid police force routinely solicits bribes from people going about their business. Innocent people are arrested for loitering and vendors often have their goods looted for the personal use of police.

The economy has also not recovered enough to bring relief to the average household. We see food on supermarket shelves, but we cannot eat with our eyes. Unemployment remains at close to 95%, and with informal trade criminalised, most people remain locked in a daily struggle to feed themselves and their families.

The healthcare and education systems remain in crisis. While some schools have reopened, more and more children are dropping out as parents continue with the daily struggle to decide whether to put food on the table for the day or send a child to school for a week. Child-headed households are also becoming increasingly prevalent as HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, stress and a collapsed healthcare system combine to hound our people into early graves. In Zimbabwe, the average life expectancy for a woman is 34 years.

This is the backdrop against which WOZA operates, providing Zimbabweans across political lines with a platform to speak out about their issues. Almost every month for the last seven years, women and men have taken to the streets to demand social justice and hold their leaders accountable through peaceful direct action. Invariably these peaceful protests have led to conflict with the state.

Thousands of my colleagues have faced arrest, torture and abduction – their only crime, wanting a better life for themselves and their families. I myself have been arrested more than 30 times in the last seven years for peaceful actions. Once, I was even arrested for teaching women how to make lemon jam!

These arrests do not deter us because WOZA has empowered us to believe that we deserve better. We deserve to have a roof over our head, food in our stomachs, our children in schools and the nation working. We deserve to live in dignity and free from fear; and it is our right to have our voices heard and respected. That is why I joined WOZA.
While Mugabe boasts of having degrees in violence, I and 75,000 WOZA members who stand beside me, have degrees in non-violence.

Our aim is to uphold universality and nonviolence, for a better life—for ourselves and for our children. The Robert F Kennedy award not only validates WOZA’s work, it amplifies our voices. Your efforts send the message that we are not alone and that the world is watching.

I would like to appeal to my sisters and brothers from Africa, guarantors to the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Since it was signed last September, there have been thousands of violations. We call on SADC and all friends present to ensure that the spirit and the letter of the GPA are fully respected and implemented.

We appeal to you to help us rebuild our healthcare and education systems and ensure that every person has enough to eat. We are not asking you to solve our problems for us. We are asking you to support our choices and help us implement them.

In the words of Robert F. Kennedy, “The future is not a gift: it is an achievement. Every generation helps make its own future.” Help us achieve ours.

I thank you.

Jenni Williams:

Good evening Mr. President, Mrs. Obama, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to add my thanks to that of Magodonga’s to the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and friends here present for the recognition given to Women of Zimbabwe Arise.

WOZA was formed to give voice to ordinary women and men and to demand social justice for all Zimbabweans. We did not set out to seek recognition beyond that of our own government respecting us as citizens and recognising our concerns as legitimate. We are mothers of the nation, longing for the award of dignity, and a bright future for our children.

WOZA

It is unfortunate however, to note that our activism – demanding our rights as citizens —- comes at a cost. I personally find WOZA members constant courage inspirational and would like to take this opportunity to salute their dedication. Although some have paid the ultimate price ——– their lives sacrificed at the hands of police harassment, or due to a health crisis, brought about by a government, that prioritises power over human life. As I stand here in the White House, I pay tribute to them – Tembelani Lunga – Julia Chapeyama – Fungai Chabata – Douglas Magwaro – Maria Moyo and others.
Maria’s story is an example of how life is cut short in Zimbabwe. A veteran of the liberation struggle, Maria looked after her six orphaned grandchildren, struggling to educate them by selling tomatoes. Finding that the country’s hard-won independence had been squandered, she once more engaged in struggle and became an active member of WOZA.

It was upon her tenth arrest and two nights in filthy police cells, Maria contracted the flu. Her condition steadily worsened as she had insufficient food and no access to medicine. The final straw came when she was abducted from her sickbed by police early one morning and interrogated in the bush for hours. Maria died days later, never recovering from the trauma of her torture.

Maria embodies the spirit that drives us. WOZA was formed to turn a victim mindset into the one of a survivor — determined to finally realize the promises of the liberation war – for the ideal of “one person-one vote,” for equality and for the right to education. Blood has already been spilt for these ideals. WOZA leads a nonviolent struggle and we are committed to giving it a chance to complete our long walk to freedom.

To help us, we draw inspiration from the work of Martin Luther King Junior. He challenged us to ‘make injustices visible’ and to work so that ‘fear can be turned into hope.’ We modelled our training programmes on his advice, and today, we have a membership of 75,000 strong to show for it.

We are not fighting a revolution in Zimbabwe, we are leading an evEolution. And civic education is our tool to evolve the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans, to build a strong, new, African democracy, where respect, tolerance and accountability are key. The building blocks of this democracy are being laid in cattle kraals, tiny two-roomed houses and church halls across the country.

Mr President you know how invaluable community mobilising can be – We have learnt that knocking on doors, talking with and listening to people is the way WE CAN rebuild our nation. We call on you, to support community mobilizers who are organized to knock on doors, and empower Zimbabweans to deliver change from the ground up.

Magodonga has already appealed to friends here present, I would like to add my plea that Zimbabweans be allowed to develop their democratic voice without harassment.

The constitutional reform process is currently stalled in Zimbabwe.

Little has been done under the Global Political Agreement to ensure there is a secure environment for people to participate in this process and that they can freely say what they want to be included in the content of our new constitution.

We are extremely worried that the structures of violence organized during the presidential run-off last year are currently being reinstated, to intimidate us into silence, and allow the fast-tracking of the so-called “Kariba Draft” of the constitution, endorsed by the political parties. Why is this money being spent for violence instead of funding the constitutional reform? And where is this funding coming from? Please help us expose this. We need to know. We want to be able to express our views and still live to see the new constitution working.

We ask for help in establishing a Southern African Development Community monitoring mechanism of the GPA, that would focus on individuals’ security, and the constitutional reform process. WOZA can take care of the speaking out, and the freedom to express, but we need help to make sure there is freedom after expression.

I thank you!

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