Stabile Dewa, 34, a vibrant Zimbabwean women rights and democracy activist, is facing treason charges for attending a workshop on democracy in the Maldives.

The conference in the Maldives was titled: “Human rights, peace building and non-violent strategies to engagement.”

But the Zimbabwe government has charged that she was at the workshop to plan violent protests to topple President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

Dewa, the executive director of the Women’s Academy for Leadership Excellence (WALPE), was arrested at the country’s main airport on her return, then charged for subversion.

She spent 15 days at the notirious Chikurubi Maximum Prison and described the time as the “most traumatising” of her life before she was released on $1,000 bail by the High Court.

Under Section 22 of Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, “subversion of a constitutional government” is a treason charge. It carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Since the beginning of 2019, the government of President Mnangagwa has promoted a “new dispensation” that respects basic rights, but has arrested and prosecuted several peaceful activists on baseless charges.

Dewa, a former student activist, says she is not moved by the charges she is facing right now since she is clear she did nothing wrong. “…the charges are just to frustrate the work of civil society. The government is afraid of its own people. Zimbabwe shall overcome some day,” said Dewa.

She has spent her adult life fighting for human rights and justice for women and children. During her student activism days, Dewa demonstrated for academic freedoms.

“We ran several campaigns advocating for academic freedoms and the improvement of learning conditions for tertiary students,” Dewa said.

She was one of the activists who took to the streets in November 2018 to mobilize people in a demonstration that led to former Zimbabwe long ruling president Robert Mugabe resigning.

Dewa also worked as a deputy director for the Heal Zimbabwe Trust, an organization that called for national healing and reconciliation after deadly 2008 presidential polls that left hundreds dead and hundreds more injured from political violence.

“Our organization was at the forefront of giving voice to survivors of the 2008 violence and torture,” she said.

“The unbelievable, painful and traumatizing stories I heard from the survivors of torture especially in remote areas, strengthened my resolve to pursue human rights, peace building conflict transformation and women’s rights work.”

In her current role at WALPE, Dewa is pushing for more women to run in the 2023 general elections.

“My wish is to identify, mobilize and capacitate more women to run for public office during the 2023 elections and beyond. We need to come together as a nation and prioritize equality and equity issues,” Dewa said.

“We must come up with concerted efforts to achieve 50/50 gender representation in all leadership positions as stipulated in the Zimbabwe constitution.”