Lottie Gertrude Stevenson ( née Bevier; 16 September 1944 – 24 August 2018) was a Zimbabwean ambassador and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
. She was a
member of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
Parliament of Zimbabwe
The Parliament of Zimbabwe is the bicameral legislature of Zimbabwe composed of the Senate and the National Assembly. The Senate is the upper house, and consists of 80 members, 60 of whom are elected by proportional representation from ten six-m ...
. She was also a founding member of the
Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to:
* Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe
** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congres ...
(MDC) of Zimbabwe, the first white woman to be voted into the MDC National Executive and, during her tenure, the country's only white female Member of Parliament.
Early life
Stevenson was born in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
in the United States, and attended school at
Wymondham College
Wymondham College is a coeducational day and boarding school in Morley, near Wymondham, Norfolk, England with academy status. A former grammar school, it is one of 36 state boarding schools in England and the largest of its type in the country ...
in England from 1955 to 1962. She obtained a BA degree ( French and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, joint honours) from the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
and a Graduate Certificate in Education from the
University of Zimbabwe
The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...
. She lived in
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
during the 1970s, before fleeing from the regime of
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
. She moved to Zimbabwe in 1980, and became a Zimbabwean citizen in 1990.
Career
Stevenson held the position of Member of Parliament for Harare North from 2000 to 2008. She also served as MDC's national secretary for Policy and Research for both the original MDC and in a smaller faction of the MDC. She was quoted as saying "
Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Z ...
does not frighten me, I feel it is my duty to stand up for the rights of all."
Stevenson was the chairperson of the Combined Harare Residents Association, and led the organisation's Supreme Court request for municipal elections in the city following the dissolution of the Harare City Council by the Ministry for Local Government due to corruption. The government-appointed city commissioners, initially appointed for a period of six months, were still in place two years later. The approach was successful, however before elections could be organised, President Mugabe declared that the city elections would be held simultaneously with the 2002 presidential elections. As a result of the short time frame for preparations the elections were chaotic and many eligible voters were not able to vote. Nevertheless, the organisation considered their actions a success as they had forced the government to approve elections in the city.
In 2005, Stevenson and several supporters left the MDC due to the increasingly violent tactics of
Morgan Tsvangirai
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was President of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic ...
, the movement's leader and founder. She joined a breakaway faction led by former student activist
Arthur Mutambara
Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara (born 25 May 1966) New Zimbabwe is a
In July 2006, after attending a political meeting in the Harare suburb of
Mabvuku
Mabvuku is a suburb east of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.
History
In 2005, Operation Murambatsvina destroyed slums in Mabvuku and other areas of Harare such as Budiriro and Mbare as well as nearby Chitungwiza. By the mid-2010s, the nu ...
, Stevenson and four political colleagues were attacked by a mob. Stevenson suffered panga wounds to the back of her neck and head, broken arm and wrist bones and a fractured cheek bone. The leadership of the rival faction of the MDC immediately claimed that the attack was carried out by
ZANU
The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was a militant organisation that fought against white minority rule in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). ZANU split in 1975 into wings loyal to Robert Mugab ...
militants. However, while recovering in the hospital, Stevenson positively identified her assailants as members of the MDC-T faction, led by Tsvangirai. Timothy Mubawu, a MDC Member of Parliament, was later charged with organising the attack.
Later career and death
In 2009, Stevenson was appointed as Zimbabwean Ambassador to
The Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
, and was responsible for re-opening Zimbabwe's embassy in Senegal. She held the post even after the fall of the inclusive government in 2013.
Stevenson was found dead by her chauffeur at her
Dakar, Senegal
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...
residence on 24 August 2018.
Personal life
Stevenson was the daughter of First Lieutenant Gilbert Hasbrouck Bevier Jr. (1924-1946), who was born in
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...
and died suspiciously of a gunshot wound in Seoul, South Korea. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in May 1942, while a freshman at Rutgers University, and served during World War II. He was a descendant of seven of the New Paltz, New York patentees, or founders, including
Louis DuBois (Huguenot)
Louis Du Bois (21 October 1626 – 1696) was a Huguenot colonist in New Netherland who, with two of his sons and nine other refugees, founded the town of New Paltz, New York. These Protestant refugees fled Catholic persecution in France, emigrati ...
. Her mother was Ann Elizabeth Jarrell of Georgia. She had a brother, Frank Hasbrouck Bevier.
In July 1965, she married Stuart Robert Stevenson, of Hailsham, England, in Surrey, England. They had three children: Neil Robert, Catherine Bevier and Alexander Graham Stevenson.