Mr Tsvangirai's car reportedly rolled three times after the
collision
30 mins
ago
AFP
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was flown to
neighbouring Botswana
for medical tests on Saturday after being seriously
injured in a car crash
that killed his wife, his party said.
"I do
not know when he will be back, he will undergo a check-up, but he is
out of
danger now," a spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC) said.
Hours earlier, Tsvangirai -- who suffered neck and head
injuries in Friday's
crash -- was seen by an AFP reporter walking out of the
Avenues Clinic in
Harare accompanied by his top allies.
The crash
happened as Tsvangirai and his wife Susan, 50, were travelling
from Harare
to Buhera, their rural hometown where the new prime minister was
due to
speak at a rally. His wife died at the scene of the crash.
The MDC has
vowed to launch its own investigation into the crash although
officials have
not suggested foul play.
"Police are making their own investigation, we
are also making our own,"
said Finance Minister Tendai Biti, the party
number two and Tsvangirai's
chief ally.
Biti indicated that the crash
could have been avoided if Tsvangirai had been
granted a police escort
saying, "The authorities could have avoided this
omission."
Tsvangirai's car was hit by a truck which crossed into the
oncoming lane and
side-swiped the prime minister's vehicle, causing it to
roll several times,
police said.
More details of the truck emerged on
Saturday, with a US embassy official in
Harare saying it belonged to a US
aid agency "partner" for AIDS drugs
delivery.
"The vehicle is used in
a project to provide antiretroviral drugs. Whether
it was carrying any aid
at the time, I am not sure," the official said.
ABC News in the United
States cited unnamed US officials as saying the truck
belonged to a
contractor working for the US and British governments.
The truck, which
had a USAID insignia on it, was purchased by US government
funds and its
driver was hired by a British development agency, the report
said.
President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace visited Tsvangirai
in hospital on
Friday evening and later sent a letter of condolence also
released to
reporters.
"We were all celebrating this major
development (the unity government) when
tragedy struck. It's a sad
occurrence indeed," said Mugabe.
The crash raised new concerns about the
success of the fragile unity
government whose inception has been plagued by
disputes over the
appointments of top officials.
"The accident has
presented a very challenging hurdle for the Zimbabwe
fragile accord," said
Daniel Makina, an analyst based at the University of
South
Africa.
"People are not going to stop speculating and will probably start
pointing
fingers. Unfounded and damaging speculation could be
disastrous."
Tsvangirai claims to have been the target of four
assassination attempts
including one in 1997 when he said assailants tried
to throw him out of his
office window. He has also survived a severe beating
by security forces.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called for
"light to be shed
rapidly on this accident."
As Zimbabwe's political
and economic crises escalated, Tsvangirai and Mugabe
finally agreed to form
a unity government earlier this year following
intense international
pressure.
The accord between the arch-rivals was meant to end nearly a
year of
political turmoil following disputed elections last
March.
Since he took office, Tsvangirai has been appealing to the
international
community to help fund the country's economic
recovery.
Zimbabwe, once seen as a regional breadbasket and post-colonial
success
story, now faces the world's highest inflation rate, major food
shortages
and a deadly cholera epidemic.
Brian Hungwe visits the scene of Friday's car crash near Harare in which Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was injured and his wife Susan killed.
|
Mr Tsvangirai's car reportedly rolled three times after the
collision |
A land cruiser lies on its back 24 hours after the car crash, drawing the attention of motorists.
Inside the mangled remains of the vehicle, a continuous warning sound has been hinting all day that doors are open.
Yet the keys are still in the ignition. A shattered windscreen and broken car windows tell an ugly story, as the Toyota Land cruiser rests on its roof besides the road.
Two policemen are on constant guard. Strangers are not allowed up close.
But vehicles are slowing down around the fatal scene. Curious onlookers disembark, say little, and some weep, as they catch a glimpse of the lonely miserable vehicle.
It is difficult to imagine how Mr Tsvangirai escaped relatively unscathed as the heavy vehicle rolled three times after the collision with an oncoming lorry.
One immediately feels pity for his wife Susan, his pillar of strength and mother to the couple's six children.
Questions asked
The Masvingo-Harare road is a two lane route. The place where the crash occurred is on a kilometre-long (0.6 miles) stretch of clear road, sandwiched between two commercial farmlands.
 |
 People don't want to believe it was an ordinary accident... They
wanted to kill him  Harare's taxi driver |
The road evidently requires rehabilitation, but calls for such repairs have fallen on deaf ears over the past years, despite horrifying fatalities involving haulage lorries, buses and ordinary cars.
As the nation ponders on the latest tragedy, many questions are being asked - and concerns are being raised over the security of government officials.
How a convoy of three vehicles, with one in the middle carrying the second most important person in the land, got involved in a car crash, is what has perplexed many people.
The oncoming lorry, which apparently belonged to a partner of the US government aid agency USAID, is thought to have crossed into the prime minister's path, sideswiping the right bumper of Mr Tsvangirai's Land Cruiser, which then rolled off the highway.
Rumours in Harare
"If you look at the circumstances surrounding the accident, they show that there is not as much security as one would have wanted, not that you can prevent an accident, but I'm sure it must give a lot of lessons about the security framework," says Dr Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of a constitutional reform pressure group.
Mr Tsvangirai flew to Botswana on Saturday, his party
said |
"It's very depressing, I think happening within the first three weeks of the new inclusive government. It's unfortunate that the public will find it unbelievable and that could threaten the whole framework of the new government," Dr Madhuku said.
Already, Harare is awash with rumour and speculation.
"People don't want to believe it was an ordinary accident, even if you tell them President Mugabe visited Tsvangirai in hospital hours after the crash," a taxi driver told me.
"Why did the oncoming vehicle target his vehicle, yet there are hundreds other cars that use the same road every hour, it's a busy road?" he asked. "They wanted to kill him."
At the scene of the crash, Deputy Mines Minister and MDC legislator Murisi Zwizwayi is refusing to buy into the story that the encroaching vehicle hit a pothole or hump before crossing the lane.
"Where are the potholes, even humps, here, do you see one, it's just a clear road," he said, almost throwing his hands in exasperation.
"There was a lot of talk around a pothole that is alleged to have caused the accident. It was only proper that we visit the scene. From my own assessment, there is no pothole to talk about as far as this accident is concerned," Mr Zwizwayi said.
'Huge embarrassment'
At the clinic where Mr Tsvangirai was treated, there was heavy security, state agents and armed police. It appeared like a state expression of loyalty, to avoid giving any credence to conspiracy theories.
Mr Tsvangirai lost his wife of 30 years in the
crash |
"From now on, security around the prime minister will be tighter, I think they will test whatever he drinks or eat first to make sure he doesn't die. It's in their interest to keep him alive now," said a senior MDC official, barred from entering the clinic after the accident.
The treatment centre was besieged by hosts of politicians across the political divide.
Inside were central bank governor Dr Gideon Gono, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, head of central intelligence Happyton Bonyongwe, and other party deputy ministers.
"Rarely do prime ministers get involved in car accidents. Plane crashes are more understandable," said a retired army official.
"It shows lack of planning, co-ordination of close security transporting the VIPs in the convoy," he said.
He says when such a situation arises "countless reports are filed, many questions asked, and people tend to lose their jobs".
"This incident," he added, "is no exception."
An MDC insider says what makes this incident more serious, is that it is a "huge political embarrassment to the state, particularly President Mugabe that he is failing to provide adequate to his prime minister in government".
Given Mr Mugabe's demeanour, a very sad depressed face, as he walked out of the clinic, a lot of people "must be running around".
"Logic would have demanded that police escort be provided to warn other traffic... and this tragedy could have been avoided," Finance Minister Tendai Biti said, before breaking down at a party news conference.
"The authorities must understand that omission," Mr Biti added.
His tears hint at the growing level of anger and emotion within the echelons of his party. At his home in Harare, there was weeping and wailing all night, as relatives and friends tried to come to grip with the tragedy.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13008
March 7, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
THE mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
said it will launch
a parallel investigation into the accident in which
Susan Tsvangirai, the
wife of the party's leader and Zimbabwe Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai,
died on Friday afternoon.
The accident occurred
100 km out of the capital city along the
Harare-Masvingo highway. The
Tsvangirai's were travelling to their rural
home in Buhera for the weekend,
probably their first visit since Tsvangirai
became Prime Minister three
weeks ago.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti sobbed as he told
journalists at a press
briefing on Saturday morning that his party would
launch its own
investigation into the circumstances of the accident in which
the Prime
Minister and his driver were also injured. They were admitted to
the Avenues
Clinic. The President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, as well
as Vice
President Joice Mujuru visited Tsvangirai in hospital Friday night.
Their
entourage included Minister of State security Emmerson Mnangagwa and
the
Director of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Happyton Bonyongwe
and
the governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono.
"The car that the
Prime Minister was travelling in was being driven by a
CMED certified driver
and we are waiting for the police report into the
investigation of how the
accident occurred," Biti said. "But we will also
launch an independent
investigation into how the accident occurred."
Biti addressed the press
conference immediately after a meeting of the MDC
national executive at
Harvest House, the party's headquarters in Harare.
He was flanked by MDC
deputy president and Deputy Prime Minister
Thokozani Khupe and party
spokesperson Nelson Chamisa. Biti was recently
appointed Minister of
Finance.
Biti said the MDC regretted that the Prime Minister was allowed
to travel
without a police escort which might have helped to avert the fatal
accident.
"If there had been a police escort perhaps the accident could
have been
avoided but because of this omission the accident occurred," he
said. "The
Prime Minister must have a police escort. It's not a peak demand
but it is
only logical that the Prime Minister be accorded security escort
in future."
Biti did not give details of whether request had been made
for a police
escort before the fatal accident.
Biti described March 6
as a sad day for the MDC and people of Zimbabwe. He
said the death of Susan
Nyaradzo Tsvangirai was a big blow to the country.
"March 6 is a sad day
indeed; we lost the wife of our president. To us Susan
Tsvangirai was a
mother, a pillar and foundation to our prime Minister and
to our party, she
is a heroine."
Biti became emotional and started to sob.
"The fate
is below the belt, it took place at a time of joy and
celebration," he
said.
Biti said Susan Tsvangirai had been busy preparing for the Prime
Minister's
birthday next week. Tsvangirai turns 58. He was born March 10,
1952.
Tsvangirai's brother, Casper, had earlier told journalists that
Susan died
upon arrival at Beatrice Hospital in Harare from injuries
sustained in the
accident. Earlier reports said she was bleeding from the
mouth and the head.
Susan was born on April 24, 1958. She met Morgan
Tsvangirai in 1976 at
Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura, where he worked. He
said she had become part
of Tsvangirai's life ever since.
"She was
there when the Prime Minister was thrown from the 10th Floor of
Chester
House," Said Biti. "She was there when he went through the trials of
the
treason trial; she was there when he was brutalised on the 11th of March
2007, she was there when the party split on October 12."
Susan leaves
behind six children, three boys and three girls, all now
scattered around
the world.
The Herald reported Saturday that Tsvangirai's Toyota
Landcruiser vehicle
was hit by a vehicle belonging to the United States Aid
Agency. Biti said
the MDC was still waiting for the outcome of police
investigations but
emphasised that his party was to carry out its own
investigations.
He said Tsvangirai was in a stable condition at the
Avenues Clinic but was
still in pain.
"His physical condition is
stable but he is in pain," Biti said. "The
physical pain that he is in has
been dwarfed by the loss of his wife and he
is probably saying why, 'Why
didn't I sit on the right side of the car. Why
didn't God take me
(instead)?'"
http://www.cnn.com
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's
prime minister believes the driver of
the truck that struck his car, killing
his wife, deliberately drove toward
them, his party told CNN.
Morgan
Tsvangirai left a hospital Saturday, a day after his wife, Susan,
was killed
in the collision, officials said.
A ball cap covered Tsvangirai's bandaged
head.
The couple, who were married in 1978, have six children.
The
crash happened on a two-lane highway between Tsvangirai's hometown,
Buhera,
and the capital, Harare.
It comes only weeks after the start of a
power-sharing agreement between
Tsvangirai and his political rival,
President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai's political party, the Movement for
Democratic Change, said
Friday that it was too early to tell whether the
crash was anything other
than an accident.
But on Saturday, MDC
members told CNN that Tsvangirai thought the crash was
deliberate.
Tendai Biti, the MDC secretary-general, speaking during a
tearful press
conference, said Tsvangirai should have had better
security.
"If there had been a police escort maybe what happened
yesterday could have
not have happened," Biti said.
"(A) police
escort would have warned oncoming vehicles of a VIP arriving. I
think
authorities must understand the omission.
"We hope that this omission
will be rectified, that the prime minister must
be given the protection that
ought to be accorded to a prime minister."
Biti said the MDC would launch
its own investigation.
Analysts say the crash raises suspicions of foul
play. One former U.S.
diplomat called for an outside investigation, saying
it was not the first
time one of Mugabe's political foes had been killed or
injured in a car
crash.
Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's main opposition
leader, took office last month under
a power-sharing deal with Mugabe
following a contentious election.
The MDC reached the agreement with
Mugabe in September after months of angry
dispute that included violence.
More than 200 deaths, mainly opposition
supporters, were reported leading up
to and after the election.
"I'm skeptical about any motor vehicle
accident in Zimbabwe involving an
opposition figure," said Tom McDonald, the
U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe from
1997-2001. "President Mugabe has a history
of strange car accidents when
someone lo and behold dies -- it's sort of his
M.O. of how they get rid of
people they don't like."
McDonald cited
the car crash deaths of Defense Minister Moven Mahachi in
2001, Employment
Minister Border Gezi in 1999 and Elliot Manyika, a
government minister and
former regional governor, last year.
"So, when I hear that Tsvangirai was
in an accident it gives me pause,"
McDonald said.
Now an attorney
with the Washington law firm Baker Hostetler, he urged a
full independent
investigation.
However, he added that traffic accidents were common
in Zimbabwe. The
highway Tsvangirai was traveling on was only two lanes and
tractor-trailers
were common, McDonald said. Vehicles in the country were
often in bad shape
and drivers inexperienced.
"It's certainly
plausible that this was just one of those tragic things," he
said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Gerry Jackson
7th March 2009
Not
surprisingly, speculation as to the cause of the accident that killed
Susan
Tsvangirai is rife.
Adding to the concerns that this may have been a
deliberate attempt on
Morgan Tsvangirai's life is the fact that someone who
was taking video
footage at the crash site, was immediately
arrested.
Deon Theron is the Vice President of the Commercial Farmers
Union and lives
near the scene of the accident. It's being reported that he
arrived quite
soon after the crash and was taking video footage of the
overturned vehicle.
Police immediately arrested him, confiscated his camera
and took him to the
Beatrice Police Station.
Other reports say he was
later released. All attempts to contact him, or any
of his colleagues at the
CFU have failed, and one commentator suggested that
their phones were
switched off and that they were keeping a deliberately low
profile.
There would be no reason in a normal society to arrest
someone taking photos
at a crash site and this can only increase suspicion
around the
circumstances.
http://www.radiovop.com/
HARARE, March 7 2009 - Police
who attended to the accident scene of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on
Friday reportedly looted cash and
cellphones, a senior Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) official said
Saturday.
Tsvangirai was involved in a head on collusion at around five on
Friday
evening, 52 miles outside Harare along the Masvingo highway, just
before the
Mhondoro Ngezi turn-off.
He is admitted at a private hospital
in Harare where his conditiuon is
said to be stable. His wife Susan, died a
few hours later and was taken to
Beatrice Hospital where her body was
reportedly transferred to a funeral
palour in Harare, MDC sources
said.
A top MDC official who requested anonymity
and who was part of the
three-car motorcade travelling with the party
president said the police
looted an unspecified amount of cash as well as
cellphones.
"The police took advantage of the situation and
looted some goods and
cash, we do not know how the goods disappeared but we
managed to recover
some of them," said the MDC official.
Up
to now, the MDC official said, they do not know where the goods
went.
Police spokesperson, Asssistant Commisioner Wayne
Bvudzijena could not
be reached for a comment.
Meanwhile
Morgan Tsvangirai may be released from hospital, a doctor
said, a day after
a crash with a truck carrying US aid in which his wife was
killed.
Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, head of casualty at the Harare
hospital where
Tsvangirai was being treated, said the prime minister had
head injuries and
chest pains, but was in stable condition.
State television showed pictures of Tsvangirai in a neck brace, which
Gwatidzo said was being used to keep him comfortable.
"We
might release him today or tomorrow," Gwatidzo told reporters
gathered at
the hospital on saturday. Ian Makone, a secretary to the prime
minister and
member of his Movement for Democratic Change party, said
Tsvangirai was
"very devastated by the death of his wife".
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk
Police
arrest driver of U.S. aid truck in head-on smash that killed Morgan
Tsvangirai's wife and left him injured
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last
updated at 4:14 PM on 07th March 2009
The driver of the truck
that crashed into Morgan Tsvangirai's car, killing
his wife, has been taken
into police custody.
Contracted by the U.S., the Zimbabwean driver was
transporting AIDS medicine
in a vehicle that belonged to the United States
Development Agency.
Susan Tsvangirai died in the horrific car crash
yesterday as she travelled
with her husband south of the capital
Harare.
Mr Tsvangirai suffered head and neck wounds in the smash but left
hospital
today.
Last night his bitter political rival
Robert Mugabe visited him at his
bedside.
Mr Tsvangirai's party,
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said it
will investigate the
causes of the crash after initial fears their leader
had been the target of
an assassination attempt.
MDC Secretary-General and Finance Minister
Tendai Biti said: 'Mr Tsvangirai
is stable, but he's in physical pain. The
physical pain is dwarfed by the
loss of his wife.'
Mr Biti
said police were examining the possibility of foul play and that the
party
would also conduct its own investigation.
The accident could have
been avoided if proper security had been put in
place, he added.
'If
there had been a police escort, what happened would not have happened;
the
authorities could have avoided this omission,' he said.
Mrs Tsvangirai's
wife was killed when the truck veered into the opposite
lane and slammed
into their vehicle.
She was thrown out of the car, which overturned
and rolled three times, and
was pronounced dead on arrival at
hospital.
The South African-based MDC said it was 'dismayed'
at the crash.
'The truth of the matter is that this is not a genuine
accident,' said
spokesperson Sibanengi Dube in a statement.
'This is
a perfect organised hit which was designed to eliminate the
President of
MDC.
'We sincerely believe that the powerful but notorious Zanu-PF clique
is
determined to do anything to scamper efforts by the inclusive government
to
get Zimbabwe back on the track.'
The collision comes just three
weeks after 56-year-old Mr Tsvangirai was
sworn in as prime minister in a
government power-sharing deal with president
Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party.
The MDC in Zimbabwe said the driver fell asleep and
that as yet there was no
reason to suspect foul play.
Spokesman
Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the MDC, said: 'Mrs Tsvangirai
died on the
spot. The accident happened between 4pm and 5pm but the details
are still
sketchy. The driver of the truck appeared to be sleeping.'
But the MDC in
South Africa pointed out that several of Mugabe's enemies
have died in
suspicious road accidents.
Their statement added: 'We strongly
believe that these are the evil acts of
a few individuals bent on derailing
the progress of the inclusive
government.
'We are, however, alive
to the fact that a lot of Robert Mugabe's opponents
died in suspicious road
accidents involving army trucks.'
Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sent
his condolences to Mr Tsvangirai.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said
the British government was 'deeply
saddened to hear news of Susan
Tsvangirai's death and we offer our
condolences'.
Mr Tsvangirai is
said still to rely on his own security - suggesting he is
not confident in
bodyguards issued by the Mugabe government.
Mrs Tsvangirai - unlike
'first lady' Grace Mugabe - preferred to stay out of
the limelight, but
appeared by her husband's side when he was charged with
treason for opposing
Mugabe and put on trial, and through numerous beatings.
The couple, who
were married in 1978, had six children.
Mrs Tsvangirai's death comes as
her husband and new finance minister Tendai
Biti wrestle with hyperinflation
of 231million per cent, 90 per cent
unemployment, a worthless currency and
the collapse of Zimbabwe's
infrastructure.
Mr and Mrs
Tsvangirai casting their votes during Zimbabwe's 2000 election
They are
also dealing with the aftermath of last year's cholera epidemic,
which
killed 4,000.
Despite these problems, Mugabe celebrated his 85th birthday
last weekend
with a giant cake and lavish party costing around
£175,000.
Mr Tsvangirai formed the MDC a decade ago - and when it emerged
as a serious
political challenger, he repeatedly faced the wrath of Mugabe's
ZANU-PF.
He was once nearly thrown from a 10th floor window by
suspected government
thugs.
Scores of his supporters were in
prison even as he joined the government.
Several have since been
released, but not prominent party member Roy
Bennett, Tsvangirai's nominee
for deputy agriculture minister, who has been
jailed since February
13.
He faces weapons charges linked to long-discredited claims that
Tsvangirai's
party was plotting to use force to overthrow
Mugabe.
Bennett's lawyers had hoped he would be freed on Wednesday,
after the High
Court ruled the state had no right to oppose
bail.
Prosecutors have appealed the bail ruling and state TV reported
today that a
magistrate had been taken into custody for 'alleged abuse of
office' for
signing a release order for Bennett based on the High Court
ruling.
Police said the release order should not have been signed
while the Supreme
Court was considering the bail ruling.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
The late Susan Nyaradzo
Tsvangirai was a mother not only to the Tsvangirai
family, but also to the
party and the nation.
Addressing a press conference soon after a national
executive meeting in
Harare today, MDC Secretary-General and Minister of
Finance Hon Tendai Biti
said the late Mrs Tsvangirai was a pillar of
strength to the Prime Minister
and to the broad membership of the
MDC.
"She was a pillar of strength. The decisions the party took
sometimes had
the refining wisdom that came from Mrs Tsvangirai," said Hon
Biti.
Mrs Tsvangirai died in a horrific car accident in Beatrice in which
the
Prime Minister and MDC President escaped with injuries. He is in a
stable
condition and is recovering at Avenues Clinic in Harare.
"She
was always there for the President and for the party. The accident took
place within a context of joy and celebration. The MDC President celebrates
his 57th birthday on Tuesday," said Hon Biti.
"She was a people's
hero. She was a mother to us and to our struggle."
The MDC
Secretary-general, who broke down several times during the press
conference,
said the accident could have been avoided if police escort had
been
provided.
"Logic would have demanded that police escort be provided to
the Prime
Minister to warn other traffic and this tragedy could have been
avoided."
Hon Biti said police investigations were underway but stressed
that the
party would carry out an independent investigation into the cause
of the
accident. The party will be making further announcements on this
matter in
due course, he said.
Mrs Tsvangirai has stood side by side
with the MDC President since their
marriage in 1976. Burial arrangements
will be announced in due course.
Hon Biti said the Prime Minister was in
a stable condition. He said the late
Mrs Tsvangirai had stood side by side
with her husband throughout his
various ordeals, including the treason
charges and the brutal assault of 11
March 2007.
The MDC is working
with the Tsvangirai family to give Mrs Tsvangirai a
befitting send-off.
Burial arrangements will be announced in due course as
some of her children
are outside the country.
MDC Information and Publicity Department
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Moses Mudzwiti Published:Mar 07,
2009
Zimbabwe
media have not yet reported the death of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's
wife a day after she died in a car crash.
Tsvangirai and his
wife, Susan, were travelling with an aide towards his
home town of Buhera,
south of Harare when his car was involved in a crash on
Friday
evening.
a..
The prime minister and MDC leader, who was slightly
injured, was ferried to
a private hospital in Harare. His driver and an aide
survived the crash
unscathed.
International media including The
Times, Sky News and BBC have all reported
that Susan was killed in the
accident around 6pm on Friday.
However, as late as Saturday morning,
Zimbabwe State media had still not
reported that Susan had
died.
All they would say was that the prime minister and his wife
were involved in
an accident along the Harare to Masvingo road near the
Buhera turnoff.
"A back-up security vehicle ferried them to a private
hospital in Harare,"
said a State television news
bulletin.
Police said a truck owned by the US embassy was travelling
in the opposite
direction on the narrow and uneven road when it crashed into
the prime
minister's vehicle.
Police said the driver of the US
embassy vehicle encroached into the
opposite lane and hit the side of
Tsvangirai's Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle.
As a result of the side
collision, the prime minister's car rolled three
times.
None of
the occupants of the US embassy truck were hurt. The driver was
later
arrested and held at Featherstone Police station.
The MDC has not
issued a statement on Susan's death. The party privately
said Tvsangirai's
family and doctors would make the pronouncement Saturday
that the mother of
six had died tragically.
On Friday night, President Robert Mugabe and
his wife Grace visited
Tsvangirai in hospital. The former arch rivals
exchanged a few words.
Nurses at the private hospital said the prime
minister struggled to sit up
and talk to his many visitors that included
diplomats.
For now Zimbabweans - still reeling in shock after the
accident - continue
to wait for official confirmation of Susan's death.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
Dear Family and Friends,
It was with great sadness
and sorrow that Zimbabweans heard of the death of
Mrs Susan Tsvangirai in a
car crash on Friday the 6th March 2009.
It is with deep regret that most
of us had not even begun to know Susan
Tsvangirai, the wife of our Prime
Minister and mother of their six children.
Ordinary Zimbabweans saw only
glimpses of a quiet, humble, smiling woman:
laughing in the kitchen with her
husband; sitting next to him at political
gatherings; singing in church
alongside her husband after he had been sworn
in as Prime
Minister.
There is a heavy and sombre mood in the country as the reality
of this
tragedy sinks in. Our hearts go out to this family who have endured
so much,
suffered so much and made so many personal sacrifices in the
struggle to put
Zimbabwe back on the road to democracy, freedom and
prosperity.
I join Zimbabweans all over the world in sending my
condolences to Morgan
Tsvangirai and the families, friends and relations of
Susan Tsvangirai. I
wish I could have thanked her for the courage, strength
and determination
she must surely have shown herself and given in support of
her husband as
they never gave up in the struggle for the new
Zimbabwe.
Susan Tsvangirai, thank you.
Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy