Judith Todd is daughter of Garfield Todd

Garfield Todd

Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd was a reformist Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia. He was born in Invercargill, New Zealand.-Background:...

 (1908–2002), Rhodesian Prime Minister 1953-8, and a political activist regarding Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

. She had been married from 1974 for ten years to Sir Richard Acton

Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton

Richard Gerald Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton and Baron Acton of Bridgnorth was a British Labour politician....

.

She was a political activist from the early 1960s opposing the minority government of Ian Smith

Ian Smith

Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...

. She was arrested in 1972 together with her father and expelled from the country becoming a persona non grata

Persona non grata

Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...

. She relocated to London. In 1978 she was among the founding members of Zimbabwe Project Trust, a humanitarian organization connected to the Roman Catholic church. It was founded to help Zimbabwean refugees. Her exile lasted until all detentions were lifted in February 1980 under the process leading to the independence of Zimbabwes. The trust relocated from London to Zimbabwe and Todd was appointed director, a position she held until 1987. The trust's focus shifted to humanitarian aid, especially relocation and training of liberation war ex-combatants

She became a strong critic the regime of Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe

Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...

. After an unsuccessful candidature for a seat in parliament for the Zimbabwe African People's Union

Zimbabwe African People's Union

The Zimbabwe African People's Union was a militant organization and political party that fought for the national liberation of Zimbabwe from its founding in 1961 until it merged with the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front in December 1987....

 (ZAPU) she worked as a journalist. She was a founding shareholder of the Daily News

Daily News (Harare)

The Daily News was a Zimbabwean independent newspaper published in Harare. Its presses were bombed and it was banned in 2003.-History:The Daily News was first launched on July 31, 1999, and controversially banned in defiance of a court ruling in 2003. Its founder, Geoffrey Nyarota, was a journalist...

 newspaper in 1999, the paper was banned in 2003. Also in 2003 Todd was stripped of her Zimbabwean citizenship.

Publications

• An Act of Treason: Rhodesia (1965)
• The Right To Say No (1972)
• Through the darkness: a life in Zimbabwe (2007)

External links

• Through the darkness: a life in Zimbabwe, Todd's book at Google Books
• Sir Garfield Todd: Liberal Rhodesian premier brought down over black reforms - Obituary in The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  
• Website of the Zimbabwe Project Trust