36 In Their Capacity as Human Rights Defenders: Women to water and the right to health, on behalf of her community in Harare’s Marimba Park suburb. In 2014 members of her community – many of them over 90 years old – went for seven months without water supplies from Harare City Council, risking her health and that of her fellow community members. Feeling that the council was condemning her to the grave, Sagwete launched a fight to assert her rights that resulted in the council being forced to act. “How can I survive without water at my age? They wanted to send me to an early death but I am not too old to fight for my rights” she said. Sagwete rallied other community members, and after numerous, fruitless engagements with council officials, she approached ZLHR, whose intervention resulted in the council restoring water to the area. She continues to pay close attention to the rights of her community even as she battles ill-heath. 4.3 Human rights/ democracy activists Eileen Sawyer (31 March 1927–10 August 2012) was a social worker and founded the Citizens Advice Bureau and a free legal aid scheme thereunder. She was also a founder of the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) and of the Zimbabwe NGO Human Rights Forum (the NGO Forum). It is with good reason that Eileen Sawyer is fondly remembered as the grandmother of human rights in Zimbabwe. Until her very last breath, she was in the trenches fighting for human rights – a passion that defined her life. Sawyer was often at the courts offering support to human rights defenders going through the legal tribulations that are frequently put in their way. After retiring as National Director of both the LRF and the NGO Forum, she worked as a consultant for the NGO Forum, an organisation she helped form after the 1998 food riots and which she served as it’s second director. Under her watch, the Forum grew from eight founder member organisations to an internationally reputable network with over 20 members. But this was just the later part of her work. After coming to the then Southern Rhodesia in the early 1960s, Sawyer set up the Council of Social Service and the Citizens Advice Bureau, which became an outpost of care in a growing climate of racial intolerance. Realising the need for legal assistance, she co-opted volunteer lawyers to give free legal assistance through the Citizens Advice Bureau in the early 1970s which later led to the establishment of the Legal Aid Clinic. After Independence she helped form the LRF in 1983. Under her guidance, the LRF worked with the Catholic Commission on Peace and Justice to unearth the extent of the Gukurahundi massacres. Tony Reeler, a researcher and human rights advocate, described her thus: “Eileen was instrumental in ensuring the Gukurahundi report was published, mostly against the inclination of the Catholic bishops at the time. Eileen always described herself as a backroom person. She was not a public speaker but she was tireless behind the scenes.” Jennifer Williams is a struggle woman. Bold, fearless and determined, Jenni Williams combines grassroots activism, street protests, petitioning and litigation to press for political, social and economic rights. Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a women’s civic organisation she founded in 2002, has grown to become one of the country’s landmark human rights organisations. The word “WOZA”, is an Ndebele word meaning “come forward” and, under her stewardship, thousands of women have come forward and are part of a countrywide membership of over 90 000. The firebrand activist often leads from the front, resulting in numerous arrests and beatings by the police. As a frequent guest in police detention cells, it is probably fitting that Williams was involved in a court case that resulted in the condemnation of Harare Central Police Station holding cells. She has also taken a case to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to press for full enjoyment of the