Mugabe urges support for Tsvangirai
Mugabe, who formed a unity government with Tsvangirai in February, told hundreds of mourners at a memorial service in Harare that Susan Tsvangirai's death in a car crash last Friday was an act of God.
"This is a difficult moment for our colleague. He has lost a partner and we must all rally to support him and lessen his burden ... This is the hand of God," Mugabe said at the service for the woman who supported Tsvangirai through years of political struggle against the veteran president.
"To our supporters we want to say violence should stop. That's what (Mrs) Tsvangirai would have wanted, for us to co-exist peacefully. We have just started a new life after years of fighting each other and insulting each other. We have said let's give peace and harmony a chance and work together."
Tsvangirai on Monday ruled out foul play as the cause of a car crash that injured him and killed his wife, easing concerns that it would increase tensions in the new government.
Many Zimbabweans had been suspicious of the cause.
Unexplained car accidents
Zimbabwe's prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, is recovering from a road accident that claimed the life of his wife Susan last Friday. Tsvangirai has declared that there was no foul play involved, pouring cold water on raging rumours that the accident was an assassination attempt orchestrated by Robert Mugabe. However, rumours and conspiracy theories about a Mugabe-ordered assassination attempt will continue to swirl because of Zanu-PF's reputation for surreptitious, devious and ruthless machinations.
Zimbabwe has a long history of prominent political figures – Mugabe's rivals particularly – who have been involved in mysterious car mishaps. Car accidents that proved fatal include, among others, Josiah Tongogara, commander of Zanu-PF's guerilla army against Rhodesian rule in 1979; Sydney Malunga in 1994; Christopher Ushewokunze in 1995; Moven Mahachi and Border Gezi in 2001; and Elliot Manyika in 2008. Other political rivals of Mugabe, such as Edison Zvobgo, survived unexplained car accidents. For many Zimbabweans the history of Mugabe's opponents falling victim to curious road accidents lends credence to their conspiracies about a failed political assassination on Tsvangirai.
It is also worth recalling that in the late 1990s Tsvangirai resisted being thrown from the 10th floor of Harare's Chester building by Zanu-PF sympathisers. Tsvangirai has been shot at, arrested on trumped up treason charges, harassed and demonised by Zanu-PF endlessly. When Tsvangirai was savagely beaten by Zimbabwean police in 2007 for attending a public prayer meeting Mugabe remarked that he "deserved" the beating. Senior security officials, who for years vowed not to salute Tsvangirai because he did not take part in the country's liberation war, have been recalcitrant elements since the unity government's formation. Was last week's accident the work of Tsvangirai's foes in the security sector? No one has the answer to this burning question.
The truck that collided with Tsvangirai's vehicle belongs to a contractor working for US Aid. In December 2008 a different US Aid driver was accused of shooting Zimbabwe's air force commander, Perence Shiri – the man who led the mass killings in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland province during the 1980s. This has led to some local politicians such as Jonathan Moyo calling for an investigation of US Aid activities in Zimbabwe. There are claims the lorry driver fell asleep at the steering wheel while driving. Others claim that the driver was trying to avoid a hump on the road when the collision occurred. Some allege that the truck driver was endeavouring to avoid a pothole. The conflicting accounts and queer coincidences fan conspiracy theories and suspicions.
Tsvangirai's accident will be clouded by suspicion for years. The accident will increase the air of distrust between both MDC and Zanu-PF in the unity government. It also illuminates an important theme about Zimbabwean politics since 2000, which is its unpredictable, unexplainable and conspiracy-laden nature. Predictability, rationality, formal institutions, good governance processes and the rule of law have been undermined by political violence, arbitrariness and economic failure. Take for instance the recently renewed farm seizures, the 2005 urban clean up, and the month-long delay in releasing the final vote count in the 2008 presidential election and the accompanying violence. The conspiracy theories and distrust surrounding Tsvangirai's accident must be seen as symptomatic of a political climate that remains as volatile as ever.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/10/zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister and main opposition Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai seats inside the Methodist Church in Harare, March 10, 2009, during the church service of his late wife Susan.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe speaks on March 10, 2009 at the funeral church service for Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife Susan at a local church in Harare. Mugabe said during the church service that the car crash that killed Tsvangirai's wife was "the hand of God". The remarks were Mugabe's first public comments on the crash that killed Susan Tsvangirai and injured her husband on March 6.
"This is a difficult moment for our colleague. He has lost a partner and we must all rally to support him and lessen his burden ... This is the hand of God," Mugabe said at the service for the woman who supported Tsvangirai through years of political struggle against the veteran president.
"To our supporters we want to say violence should stop. That's what (Mrs) Tsvangirai would have wanted, for us to co-exist peacefully. We have just started a new life after years of fighting each other and insulting each other. We have said let's give peace and harmony a chance and work together."
Tsvangirai on Monday ruled out foul play as the cause of a car crash that injured him and killed his wife, easing concerns that it would increase tensions in the new government.
Many Zimbabweans had been suspicious of the cause.
Unexplained car accidents
Zimbabwe's prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, is recovering from a road accident that claimed the life of his wife Susan last Friday. Tsvangirai has declared that there was no foul play involved, pouring cold water on raging rumours that the accident was an assassination attempt orchestrated by Robert Mugabe. However, rumours and conspiracy theories about a Mugabe-ordered assassination attempt will continue to swirl because of Zanu-PF's reputation for surreptitious, devious and ruthless machinations.
Zimbabwe has a long history of prominent political figures – Mugabe's rivals particularly – who have been involved in mysterious car mishaps. Car accidents that proved fatal include, among others, Josiah Tongogara, commander of Zanu-PF's guerilla army against Rhodesian rule in 1979; Sydney Malunga in 1994; Christopher Ushewokunze in 1995; Moven Mahachi and Border Gezi in 2001; and Elliot Manyika in 2008. Other political rivals of Mugabe, such as Edison Zvobgo, survived unexplained car accidents. For many Zimbabweans the history of Mugabe's opponents falling victim to curious road accidents lends credence to their conspiracies about a failed political assassination on Tsvangirai.
It is also worth recalling that in the late 1990s Tsvangirai resisted being thrown from the 10th floor of Harare's Chester building by Zanu-PF sympathisers. Tsvangirai has been shot at, arrested on trumped up treason charges, harassed and demonised by Zanu-PF endlessly. When Tsvangirai was savagely beaten by Zimbabwean police in 2007 for attending a public prayer meeting Mugabe remarked that he "deserved" the beating. Senior security officials, who for years vowed not to salute Tsvangirai because he did not take part in the country's liberation war, have been recalcitrant elements since the unity government's formation. Was last week's accident the work of Tsvangirai's foes in the security sector? No one has the answer to this burning question.
The truck that collided with Tsvangirai's vehicle belongs to a contractor working for US Aid. In December 2008 a different US Aid driver was accused of shooting Zimbabwe's air force commander, Perence Shiri – the man who led the mass killings in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland province during the 1980s. This has led to some local politicians such as Jonathan Moyo calling for an investigation of US Aid activities in Zimbabwe. There are claims the lorry driver fell asleep at the steering wheel while driving. Others claim that the driver was trying to avoid a hump on the road when the collision occurred. Some allege that the truck driver was endeavouring to avoid a pothole. The conflicting accounts and queer coincidences fan conspiracy theories and suspicions.
Tsvangirai's accident will be clouded by suspicion for years. The accident will increase the air of distrust between both MDC and Zanu-PF in the unity government. It also illuminates an important theme about Zimbabwean politics since 2000, which is its unpredictable, unexplainable and conspiracy-laden nature. Predictability, rationality, formal institutions, good governance processes and the rule of law have been undermined by political violence, arbitrariness and economic failure. Take for instance the recently renewed farm seizures, the 2005 urban clean up, and the month-long delay in releasing the final vote count in the 2008 presidential election and the accompanying violence. The conspiracy theories and distrust surrounding Tsvangirai's accident must be seen as symptomatic of a political climate that remains as volatile as ever.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/10/zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister and main opposition Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai seats inside the Methodist Church in Harare, March 10, 2009, during the church service of his late wife Susan.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe speaks on March 10, 2009 at the funeral church service for Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife Susan at a local church in Harare. Mugabe said during the church service that the car crash that killed Tsvangirai's wife was "the hand of God". The remarks were Mugabe's first public comments on the crash that killed Susan Tsvangirai and injured her husband on March 6.
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