UPDATED: Ambassador Stevenson dies

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal and The Gambia Ms Trudy Stevenson has died.

She was 73.

Ambassador Stevenson was reportedly found dead at her residence in Dakar, Senegal, yesterday.

“It is true but we are yet to get in contact with all the relatives,” said a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

“We will announce officially once we get in touch with them.”

Ms Stevenson was a founding member of the MDC and was appointed ambassador to Senegal and The Gambia in 2009 during the inclusive government as a deployee of MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube.

A former Member of Parliament for Harare North (2000-2008), she continued to serve as ambassador after the fall of the inclusive Government in 2013 to date.

At the time of her death, Ms Stevenson, who served as MDC’s national secretary for policy and research—had quit politics to focus on her diplomatic career.

Ms Stevenson was born in the United States and attended school in England from 1955 to 1962.

She obtained a BA degree from the University of Reading and a Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Zimbabwe.

She lived in Uganda during the 1970s before coming to Zimbabwe in 1980 where she became a citizen in 1990.

She was a victim of MDC violence after she was attacked and left for dead in 2006 by the party’s hoodlums at the height of the opposition party’s factional fights.

She managed to identify her assailants.