Source: Tsvangirai back – DailyNews Live
STAFF WRITER 14 October 2017
HARARE – MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned home yesterday after
spending nearly a month in South Africa where he has been receiving
treatment on a yet to be disclosed ailment.
The former prime minister has publicly disclosed that he is suffering
from cancer of the colon and has been going to South Africa for routine
medical check-ups as part of his treatment.
However, last month Tsvangirai was airlifted there when he fell ill during
a meeting of principals to the MDC Alliance – a grouping of the country’s
largest opposition party and six other fringe parties – formed on August
5 as part of preparations for the launch of a grand coalition.
Tsvangirai touched down yesterday afternoon at the Harare International
Airport where he was met by one of his vice presidents Nelson Chamisa and
senior party officials.
“President Tsvangirai’s arrival has confounded morbid sceptics; some of
whom had publicly wished him dead,” MDC presidential spokesperson and
director of communications Luke Tamborinyoka said in a statement.
“He returns to take his rightful place in the trenches and to lead a
stoic nation that has for years fought for democracy to remove a stubborn
and inept government now engaged in a vicious succession struggle at the
expense of the challenges facing the people.”
Since he went public with his condition, question marks have been raised
whether the firebrand former labour union leader would be able to
withstand the rigours of a gruelling elections campaign expected ahead
next year’s make-or-break elections.
On Monday, an MDC lawmaker, Eddie Cross, claimed in a post that the
former trade unionist was suffering from an aggressive form of colon
cancer.
“He has been struggling with his treatment and the family is concerned
that he might not handle the election and subsequently the responsibility
of being president of a country in a deep crisis,” said Cross.
“After a lifetime of principled struggle, to have it all threatened by a
disease in your body, is not fair . . . Life can be a bastard at times.”
Since June last year, questions about Tsvangirai’s health have dominated
political discussions in mineral-rich Zimbabwe.
That was when Tsvangirai announced that he was undergoing chemotherapy in
SA.
The MDC president revealed in a recent Daily News interview that he had
had 10 chemotherapy sessions.
He then pronounced himself that he was getting cured of cancer and resumed
a hard-driving campaign to secure victory in next year’s presidential
election, in which he will face a 94-year-old President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe has said Tsvangirai should throw in the towel, claiming he has no
hope of overcoming a “mammoth political party” like Zanu PF in next year’s
harmonised elections and claims the bumper crowds at his presidential
youth interface rallies left him “trembling”.
“It made not just the opposition tremble. Vakavamba vana Tsvangirai zvino
kudedera nekumabvi uku, ndopakabva pavamba pasusukidza hurwere hwacho.
“Aiwa tinoti kandai chipfumo pasi hapana kwamunosvika. Zanu PF is the
mammoth party of the country. Look at its history; takabva kupi?” Mugabe
said in remarks that have provoked an angry reaction from the MDC.T
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