38 In Their Capacity as Human Rights Defenders: Women environment and processes are upheld. With more than 30 member organisations, ZESN is Zimbabwe’s largest independent elections monitoring body, a position that has resulted in frequent clashes with the government over the credibility of the electoral system. “The raids by the police, arrests of staff and security threats that we have experienced are the lowest point because as a human rights defender one is caught in between working towards a democratic society and one’s own personal safety as well as that of the family. It’s very difficult having to balance those two aspects.” Remarkably, Chipfunde-Vava and ZESN’s work has borne some fruit despite the hostility. Though piecemeal, government has been forced to put in place some electoral reforms following ZESN’s continued advocacy and lobbying. However, her work is far from done due to the continued treachery that characterises Zimbabwe’s elections. Having observed numerous elections in SADC as well as in Asia, North and South America, Chipfunde-Vava has a firm grasp of the deficiencies of Zimbabwe’s electoral system. Yvonne Musarurwa is a political and social justice activist. For many young female human rights defenders, Musarurwa is a symbol of resilience. She spent over two years languishing in remand prison on trumped up murder charges but she has refused to be broken down by a skewed justice system that she says is tailored to punish and scare human rights defenders. Her experiences in prison, where she was kept in isolation, were traumatic. But those permanent scars have not slowed her down. Musarurwa says “It was hell. It is life threatening torture to be forced to spend more than 23 hours confined to a prison cell, locked up and all alone. I was tormented physically and physiologically.. It was so hard that if I had not dedicated myself to the struggle for change I could have died in there. I could have committed suicide but I dedicated myself to achieving democracy. I want to change the nature of politics in Zimbabwe.". Abel Chikomo is the Executive Director of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, a network of 21 Zimbabwean human rights NGOs. Chikomo has used this position to push for the promotion and protection of all human rights across the gender divide. He has been an active human rights defender for 15 years now. Chikomo believes that we all can be “women human rights” defenders; everyone can defend women HRDs. He is convinced that much of what has been gained with regards to human rights in general, and to women’s rights in particular, is thanks to the work of women themselves. They risk imprisonment, harassment, violence, torture and even death. As women, they are also exposed to gender specific risks and are targets of gender based violence. Over the years, Chikomo has supported the cause of women human rights defenders through active contribution to initiatives like ZZZICOMP. He has also campaigned for the freeing of detained women human rights defenders and observed the trials of those hauled before the courts. Chikomo is dismayed by the targeting of women HRDs simply because of who they are and for what they do. His passion and support for the work of women human rights defenders has earned him the title “sisi” (sister). Lucky Ncube joined WOZA in 2006 and became a facilitator of civic education. He was impressed by the objectives of WOZA in mobilising, encouraging and empowering women with knowledge of their rights, as well as their dignity in carrying out this work to claim full enjoyment of women’s rights by demanding social justice from their leaders. Ncube had witnessed the suffering of women; that also affected him. After joining WOZA he became aware of the human rights duties and obligations of the state and wanted to support the women of WOZA to help foster the courage that women possess, even in very difficult times.