Jenni Williams

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Jenni Williams (born 1962) is a Zimbabwean human rights activist and a founder of the women’s group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). She became a well-known critic of President Robert Mugabe’s government; The Guardian described her in 2009 as “one of the most troublesome thorns in Mugabe’s side.”

She was born in Gwanda, Zimbabwe, and was raised mainly by her mother. Her father was an Irish immigrant who worked as a gold prospector. Williams left high school at 16 to work and help fund her siblings’ schooling. In 1994 her eldest brother died of AIDS.

From 1994 to 2002, her public relations firm represented the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe. This brought her into conflict with Mugabe’s land reforms, and after he encouraged veterans to seize white-owned farms, Williams began protesting human rights abuses. Police harassment eventually forced her to close her company.

In 2002 she helped found WOZA, a grassroots movement created to push for action against the Mugabe government. WOZA organized public protests and grew to tens of thousands of members. A core rule of WOZA was that leaders participate in protests alongside rank-and-file members.

By 2008 Williams had been arrested 33 times. Amnesty International named her a prisoner of conscience after a 2003 arrest. Human Rights Watch condemned the arrests of Williams and WOZA co-leader Magodonga Mahlangu and called for their release. After another arrest in 2008, U.S. ambassador James D. McGee urged her release, calling her a prominent voice whose charges were a sham.

In 2012 she was arrested for the 40th time during WOZA’s Valentine's Day march for the group’s tenth anniversary.

Williams has received several international honors for her work: the International Women of Courage Award in 2007, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2009 (shared with Mahlangu and presented by President Barack Obama), and Amnesty International’s Ginetta Sagan Fund prize in 2012 for inspiring women to demand their rights.

She is married to an electrician and has three adult children. Her two sons moved to the United Kingdom in the mid-2000s after threats; her husband followed later. Williams remains in Zimbabwe, continuing her fight for social justice while researching her family history.