Diana Mary Mitchell (née Coates; 16 November 1932 – 8 January 2016) was a Zimbabwean political activist and writer, who was an outspoken critic of the governments of Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe.

Biography

Mitchell was born in Salisbury, the capital of Southern Rhodesia. Her father, Elliott Coates, was a merchant navy officer and her mother, Mary Peck, was an actress. Her parents' marriage ended in 1932, and she lived with foster parents during World War II while her mother worked in a munitions factory. She was educated at Eveline Girls High School in Bulawayo, and later at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied history and the

Shona language Shona (; sn, chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was codified by the colonial government in the 1950s. According to ''Ethnologue'', Shona, comprising the Zezuru, Korekore and Karanga dialects, is spoken by about 7 ...

. She married hydraulic engineer Brian Mitchell in 1956, and they had three children. Mitchell's political activism began in 1966, when she campaigned to save a nursery school which was bulldozed by the government. The campaign later expanded to a broader one to improve education for black children. In 1968, she was involved with the Centre Party; although she ran as an independent candidate in the 1974 elections and for the National Unifying Force (NUF) in the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

. After Smith's 1970 declaration of Rhodesia as a republic, Mitchell was involved with arranging negotiations between Smith's

Rhodesian Front The Rhodesian Front was a right-wing conservative political party in Southern Rhodesia, subsequently known as Rhodesia. It was the last ruling party of Southern Rhodesia prior to that country's unilateral declaration of independence, and the rul ...

and militant nationalists. Working with journalists Robert Cary and

Willie Musarurwa Wirayi Dzawanda "Willie" Musarurwa (24 November 1927 – 3 April 1990) was a Zimbabwean journalist. Musarurwa studied at Princeton University from 1961 to 1962. He opposed the policies of both the minority white government and later the majority ...

, she compiled and published a definitive biographical compilation of leaders in the nationalist movement, '' African Nationalist Leaders in Rhodesia: Who's Who''. Although delighted at Zimbabwe's eventual independence under terms acceptable to the international community in 1980, Mitchell was critical of the Mugabe government's suppression of the media and political opposition. She and her husband moved to Britain in 2003. Brian died in 2010. In 2011, Mitchell's extensive collection of political clippings and papers were donated to the Hoover Institution, which opened them for public access, and to the University of Cape Town.

References

External links

Web version of Cary & Mitchell's ''African Nationalist Leaders in Rhodesia: Who's Who''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Diana 1932 births 2016 deaths Zimbabwean historians Zimbabwean democracy activists University of Zimbabwe faculty University of Cape Town alumni University of Zimbabwe alumni Zimbabwean people of British descent 20th-century Zimbabwean women politicians 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians Centre Party (Rhodesia) politicians 20th-century Zimbabwean writers 20th-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century Zimbabwean writers 21st-century Zimbabwean women writers Women historians