Morgan Tsvangirai dies aged 65

iNews

15th February 2018

Morgan Tsvangirai, a long-time rival of the former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, has died at the age of 65. The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) died yesterday of colon cancer in a hospital in Johannesburg. For years, Tsvangirai presented the biggest challenge to Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, and he became the country’s Prime Minister in a coalition concocted the stem unrest. His death leaves the opposition’s chances in question ahead of new elections promised by Zanu-PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa after Mugabe was ousted in a coup last year.

Tsvangirai came tantalisingly close to winning power outright in 2008 when he got the most votes in the national election, but according to official results, he was just short of the more than 50% majority needed to win outright. He boycotted the run-off, citing widespread violence against his supporters, handing Mr Mugabe the victory. Mr Mugabe resigned in November after pressure from the military and ruling party, and this year’s election will be the first without the man who led the southern African nation for 37 years.

In January, Mr Tsvangirai suggested he would be stepping down, saying he was “looking at the imminent prospects of us as the older generation leaving the levers of leadership to allow the younger generation to take forward this huge task”. Fractured skull Being Mugabe’s most prominent opponent brought Mr Tsvangirai considerable hardship, and he was jailed several times and charged with treason. He suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding in 2007 when he and more than a dozen other leaders of the MDC were arrested and beaten with gun butts, belts and whips. In an earlier incident Mr Tsvangirai was almost thrown from his office window by a government agent.

“Morgan Tsvangirai will be remembered as one of Zimbabwe’s great patriots,” opposition figure and human rights lawyer David Coltart said. “Although, like all of us, he made mistakes none of us ever doubted his commitment to transform Zimbabwe into a modern, tolerant state.”