Magodonga Mahlangu receives the RFK Award from Obama
Barack Obama bestowed the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award on a Zimbabwean activist Monday, calling the country’s leader Robert Mugabe a “dictator” in the process.
“They often don’t get far before being confronted by President Mugabe’s riot police,” Obama said at a ceremony for Magodonga Mahlangu and the organization she helps lead — WOZA, which stands for Women of Zimbabwe Arise.
“By her example, Magodonga has shown the women of WOZA and the people of Zimbabwe that they can undermine their oppressors’ power with their own power — that they can sap a dictator’s strength with their own,” Obama said.
Formed in 2003, WOZA boasts some 70,000 members in Zimbabwe. Through strategic nonviolence, the group encourages women to stand up for their rights and speak out on issues affecting them in the crisis-riden country.
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award annually honors courageous and innovative human rights defenders throughout the world who stand up against injustice, often at great personal risk.
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