Susan Tsvangirai - An ordinary woman with extraordinary charm

http://www.independent.co.uk/

Basildon Peta:

Saturday, 7 March 2009

What I most admired about Susan Tsvangirai was that she knew that the
success of your family was dependent on the success of your country. She
never moaned about what life was like for her and her children and the risks
that came from living with Robert Mugabe's nemesis. It was always about the
children of Zimbabwe. It was a typical caring and motherly attitude that
Zimbabwe had always wanted from its First Lady but never got.

She was a total contrast to Grace Mugabe. Where Grace was known for her
extravagance, her shopping sprees, her love of designer labels, Susan was an
ordinary woman who wore ordinary clothes and lived an ordinary lifestyle.
When Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round of the presidential elections
last year, and looked poised to oust Mr Mugabe, people flocked to Susan
offering to groom her for her new role, remodel her hairdo and update her
wardrobe. She was actually annoyed by these overtures, these attempts to
curry favour.

I visited the Tsvangirais several times before I was forced to flee from
Zimbabwe. They lived in a simple three-bedroom house - a far cry from the
multimillion-dollar Mugabe mansion. Whenever you were in their company, you
got this sense of a perfect union. On one occasion in 1997 - after her
husband had survived an attempt to throw him out of a 10th-floor window -
Susan was tenderly changing his bandages. Her love and affection was very
touching.

She was not part of the political machine, and bar the odd appearance at
party rallies, she preferred to stay out of the limelight, but their
commitment to each other was never in doubt. For a woman who lived with
death threats, intimidation by security forces and a string of attempts on
her husband's life, she kept an impeccable sense of calm and never forgot
the importance of good humour.

During the third treason case against Morgan in 2007, his wife confided:
"Look, it's difficult for me, but I have no choice but to support the cause
my husband is fighting for." It was the cause she believed in and she
thought her husband was doing the right thing. If it was not for her
support, it would have been very difficult for Morgan to remain engaged.

He once said that the best decision he had made in his life was to marry
Susan. Her death is going to devastate him. He's a very strong character, he
has felt first-hand the worst that repression can offer, and he bears
innumerable scars of his struggle against Mugabe.

But this is going to crush him. I just cannot imagine the pain and hurt that
he's going to feel, and it is going to make his already difficult task of
being Prime Minister even harder.

MDC: No reason to treat Tsvangirai crash as suspicious

http://www.mg.co.za/

HARARE, ZIMBABWE Mar 07 2009 06:09

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's prime minister, survived a car crash yesterday
that killed his wife, Susan, near Harare.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the prime minister
was injured but not critically in the collision with a lorry. He was taken
to a clinic in the capital. The driver of his official vehicle was seriously
injured. There was no word on the condition of the lorry driver.

The party said there was no immediate reason to believe the accident was
suspicious, but it was awaiting full details.

An MDC official said that from information at the scene it appeared the
lorry driver fell asleep at the wheel. It was later reported the driver
admitted being asleep at the wheel.

But rumours in Harare, some spread by text messages, were quick to raise
questions about whether the crash was another of the assassination attempts
directed at Tsvangirai and blamed on Robert Mugabe, the president. Their
power-sharing government has been rocky from the start.

MDC officials said the couple had been heading to Tsvangirai's hometown of
Buhera for a political rally. Mrs Tsvangirai died at the crash scene.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent his condolences to Tsvangirai. A
Foreign Office spokesperson said the British government was "deeply saddened
to hear news of Susan Tsvangirai's death and we offer our condolences".

In Washington, Gordon Duguid, a state department spokesperson, said the
United States had no information about the circumstances.

"Our embassy in Harare has confirmed reports of an accident in which Prime
Minister Tsvangirai and his wife were involved outside the capital," Duguid
said. "We understand Prime Minister Tsvangirai was not hurt seriously but
that Mrs Tsvangirai was fatally injured. The United States extends its
deepest condolences to Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his family."

State television cancelled its first evening newscast without explanation
and reported nothing about the accident in the second.

The couple were married for 31 years and had six children. Mrs Tsvangirai
was widely respected in Zimbabwe as the opposite of Mugabe's extravagant and
free-spending wife, Grace, who showed little concern for the plight of the
many hungry and poor in her country.

Susan Tsvangirai largely avoided the limelight but spoke out on women's
rights and Aids. She was deeply religious.

Last night the Mugabes visited Tsvangirai in hospital to offer their
condolences.

Zimbabwe's roads are notoriously dangerous, having deteriorated in recent
years through lack of maintenance. Drivers are forced to weave around
potholes. Many vehicles have no proper lights and brakes because of the
difficulty and expense of obtaining spare parts.

Tsvangirai only became prime minister last month after hammering out a
power-sharing deal with bitter rival Mugabe, who remains president.

The agreement was meant to end almost a year of stalemate, as the country
was racked by economic turmoil and a devastating cholera outbreak.
Tsvangirai delivered his maiden speech to Parliament as prime minister two
days ago. --
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009

Fatal Tsvangirai crash 'was not accident', says MDC

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The wife of Zimbabwean leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been killed in a car
crash in what his party claims may have been an assassination attempt.

By Mike Pflanz and Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 11:52PM GMT 06 Mar 2009

Movement for Democratic Change leaders in South Africa said they suspected
the head on collision with a lorry which left prime minister Mr Tsvangirai
injured and his wife Susan dead was not a genuine accident.

Rumours that the fatal incident was a botched assassination attempt spread
quickly in the country which has a history of political killings.

It is understood that the couple were travelling to a rally in his hometown
of Buhera yesterday afternoon when their car was hit on a road south of the
capital Harare by a freight truck travelling in the opposite direction.
Local reports said the driver of the truck had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Susan Tsvangirai died at the scene and her husband was taken to hospital
with minor injuries, where he was visited by Mr Mugabe. The couple been
married for 31 years and had six children.

A statement issued by the MDC said: "We suspect that this is not a genuine
accident and we appeal to Zimbabweans in South Africa to remain calm as
facts continue to surface.

"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 suspicion road accidents involving army trucks."

Mr Tsvangirai, who has survived three previous attempts on his life, was
sworn in as prime minister last month but has a tense relationship with his
former rival President Robert Mugabe.

A spokesman Mr Tsvangirai's MDC said there was growing unrest among
supporters in Harare.

Mr Mugabe brutally suppressed opposition until being forced into a
power-sharing deal following last year's close election, and thugs from his
Zanu-PF movement have been accused of carrying out hundreds of political
murders.

"It's just going crazy, everyone's phones have been ringing constantly,
clearly the suspicion is that this is not as innocent as it might appear,"
said a businessman who refused to be identified.

"We're hearing the MDC saying it was an accident, fine, if it is then it's
tragic but we can accept that. But this is a typical way people are bumped
off here. It'll be very difficult to calm people down."

There were also questions about why Mr Tsvangirai's security detail had
failed to prevent the crash.

"These guys are supposed to travel in a cavalcade and the prime minister's
car is never in the lead, it's police or a dummy car," a Harare lawyer told
The Daily Telegraph. "There are obviously too many questions at the moment,
and that's where the trouble lies."

Mr Tsvangirai, 56, had long feared that groups loyal to Mr Mugabe would take
his life. In 1997 an unidentified gang tried to throw him from a 10th floor
office window, and in 2007 he was admitted to hospital after a brutal
assault by police at a prayer rally.

Although she preferred to stay out of the limelight and was not herself
politically active, Mrs Tsvangirai provided vital support for her husband,
bringing him food in prison after his police beatings and nursing him back
to health afterwards.

The demur Mrs Tsvangirai was also at her husband's side when he was sworn in
last month, cutting a very different figure to Mr Mugabe's extrovert wife
Grace who appeared at the ceremony in a lurid leopard skin dress.

The son of a bricklayer, Mr Tsvangirai had no formal education worked in a
nickel mine before becoming involved in politics. Although he supported
Mugabe's rise to power and Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, he
became an outspoken critic of the regime's excesses as head of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions. He formed the MDC in 1999, leading the party to 57
seats the following year and fighting in opposition for nearly a decade
before joining the government this year.

Tsvangirai in stable condition in hospital

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=12997

March 6, 2009

By Our Correspondents

HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was reported late on Friday night
to be in a stable condition in hospital at the Avenues Clinic in Harare.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, who on Friday afternoon
survived a car crash that killed his wife, Susan, was admitted to Harare's
Avenues Clinic, where President Robert Mugabe was among the visitors in the
evening.

Tendai Biti, the MDC secretary general and Zimbabwe's new Finance Minister,
told journalists that Tsvangirai was in a stable condition.

"The Prime Minister is in a stable condition," he said as he was helped
through a throng of journalists who jostled to hear the latest information
on Tsvangirai's condition.

Except for those working for state-controlled media, such as ZBC TV and The
Herald, journalists were barred from entering the wards to see Tsvangirai.

Ironically, the Zimbabwean Premier had visited the clinic only last week to
see MDC and other activists who were recovering from injuries sustained
during weeks of detention and torture at the hands of their kidnappers,
state agents.

Tsvangirai's spokesperson, James Maridadi, said the Prime Minister was
travelling to Buhera when his vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser, collided with a
box truck travelling in the opposite direction. Apparently Tsvangirai relies
on MDC security arrangements when he travels, a sign that he may not be
entirely comfortable with the security provided by the government in which
he is Prime Minister.

Tsvangirai was travelling in a convoy of four vehicles, his Landcruiser
being third from front, when the Harare-bound truck encroached on the side
of his vehicle soon after it passed the two leading security vehicles in the
convoy. The truck sideswiped the Prime Minister's vehicle on the right side,
where his wife sat behind the driver, killing her instantly.

Her body was taken to the Beatrice Hospital Mortuary. Tsvangirai was
admitted to the Avenues Clinic where he was said to be in a stable
condition.

There were reports that a local commercial farmer, Deon Theron who was among
the first to arrive on the scene of the accident and who took photographs of
the accident had been arrested. The police had reportedly confiscated the
camera. Theron was being held at the Beatrice Police Station. He is the vice
president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU).

Tsvangirai was sworn-in on February 11 as Prime Minister of a coalition
government with his old rival, Mugabe. He was due to hold a rally at
Murambinda Growth Point near his rural home in Buhera, in the eastern
province of Manicaland.

"He was traveling to Buhera for a rally tomorrow," said Maridadi.

"At about 1600hrs, his vehicle, about 100km from Harare was involved in an
accident with a haulage truck that was coming in the opposite direction.

"The information that we have was that there was contact between the
vehicles and the truck hit into the side of the Prime Minister's vehicle and
it rolled three times. All the four occupants that were in the vehicle were
injured, including the Prime Minister."

President Mugabe arrived at the Avenues Clinic shortly before 8 pm and spent
over an hour in the hospital. As he exited from the hospital, he did not
pause to speak to journalists who mobbed him for comments on Tsvangirai's
condition.

Mugabe merely shook his head and got into his waiting limousine.

He was accompanied by Vice President Joice Mujuru and cabinet ministers
Emmerson Mnangagwa and Saviour Kasukuwere as well as Central Intelligence
Organisation director, Happyton Bonyongwe. The Reserve Bank governor was
part of Mugabe's entourage.

Apart from Biti other MDC officials at the hospital were party spokesman
Nelson Chamisa, youth assembly leader Thamsanqa Mahlangu, Harare legislator
William Madzimure and Senator Henry Madzorera.

Also present were National Constitutional Assembly chairman, Lovemore
Madhuku and Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general Raymond
Majongwe. In addition, there were  also low-level representatives from
foreign diplomatic missions. The last time Madhuku and Tsvangirai were in
the hospital at the same time was in 2007 when they were admitted after they
were seriously assaulted while in police custody.

Members of the public converged at the Avenues Clinic as news of the Prime
Minister's accident spread.

"I just cannot believe this," said a man in the crowd, "Why should this
happen at such a critical moment of our lives."

Tsvangirai, who led his party into a unity government with President Mugabe's
Zanu PF, is widely seen as the one politician with potential to rebuild
Zimbabwe's bartered economy.

Friday's crash occurred two days after Tsvangirai delivered his maiden
speech in Parliament.

In the United Kingdom the BBC spoke to Thabitha Khumalo, an MDC Member of
Parliament who is currently attending an international women's conference in
Scotland. She said  the loss of Mrs Tsvangirai, whom she said she had known
well, was a "huge blow" to the country.

"It is a very sad day for me and for all Zimbabweans, whether they be at
home or abroad. She was a mother figure for the whole nation," she said.

"Few people knew about her work. Whenever they saw her she was accompanying
her husband to court or to vote, but very few people knew she played a very
crucial role behind closed doors.

"She was a pillar of strength to (her husband). In a struggle like his, you
need someone to lean on and she was always there for him."

Speaking in an interview in February Mrs Tsvangirai praised the
power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC. She said the past
decade had been an "endurance test" for her husband and his colleagues in
the MDC.

"People went through hell, but they stuck to their ideals to seek change
through democratic means," she said. "This was a struggle that we endured
with MDC cadres, activists, supporters and other peace-loving Zimbabweans.

Given the history of bad blood between Zanu-PF, the President's party and
Tsvangirai's MDC there was immediate speculation that the Prime Minister's
accident was the result of foul play.

"It is curious that a vehicle such as Tsvangirai's Landcruiser should roll
three times. This was a clear attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister,"
said a furious senior MDC official.

Another official said: "It was a clear plot aimed at the Prime Minister.
They have missed him and now they have killed an innocent soul. This is
completely unacceptable."

Both requested to remain anonymous.

In a bid to dispel such speculation, one website known for its hostility to
the MDC and Tsvangirai, published the picture of a box truck, that it said
was similar to the one involved in the fatal accident.

The website said the accident truck had been purchased by the United States
Embassy and donated to an unidentified charity.

Analysis: What Susan Tsvangirai's death means for Zimbabwe

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The first thought of many inside Zimbabwe and abroad on hearing of Susan
Tsvangirai's death in a car crash would have been to suspect foul play.

By Mike Pflanz
Last Updated: 11:52PM GMT 06 Mar 2009

True, even the country's main roads have treacherous stretches of pot-holed
asphalt used by over-zealous or barely-trained drivers where many meet their
deaths every day.

But Zimbabwe also has a history of "accidents" befalling senior figures who
fall out of favour with those in power.

A Zanu-PF youth leader died in December in suspicious circumstances after he
crossed party bosses. A month earlier, an air force officer was injured in
an attack blamed on car-jackers, but which has never been fully explained.

This makes it all the more crucial for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) to clarify very quickly whether it fears that foul
play had a role in Friday's crash.

MDC party officials inside Zimbabwe said there were no suspicious factors.
But others in the extended diaspora, perhaps able to speak more freely,
immediately claimed that it was "not a genuine accident".

The future of the Mugabe-Tsvangirai unity government - barely a month old -
hinges on clarifying responsibility. Since the formation of the coalition,
there has been a large measure of mistrust between both sides, born during
last year's disputed elections. The mistrust has, if anything, deepened
during the first weeks of the government's existence, heightened by repeated
attempts by military and security forces to undermine it. Any suggestion
that Mr Mugabe, or his party, is behind the accident, could lead to the
collapse of the government.

"Really there are a lot of grey areas and this tragedy coming against this
background raises a lot of questions," said Sydney Masamvu, a Zimbabwe
analyst at the International Crisis Group.

"That's not to say that we are pointing any fingers."

Many others, however, will be doing exactly that.

Suspicion Over Death Of Zimbabwe PM's Wife

 

3:47am UK, Saturday March 07, 2009

Speculation is raging over a road crash that killed the wife of Zimbabwe's recently-installed prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mr Tsvangirai and his wife Susan attend an MDC rally

The MDC leader was travelling south of Harare when his convoy was apparently hit by a lorry.

Mr Tsvangirai, 56, and an aide escaped with minor injuries, but his wife Susan died.

There was immediate speculation the crash may have been an assasination bid.

Emma Hurd On Tsvangirai Death

Mr Tsvangirai only became premier last month after reaching a power-sharing deal with his bitter rival Robert Mugabe, who remains president.

The agreement came after almost a year of political stalemate which saw the country plunge into even deeper economic turmoil.

Zimbabwe has also been hit by a devastating outbreak of cholera which has claimed thousands of lives.

Mr Tsvangirai was highly critical of the handling of the crises in his maiden speech to parliament as PM on Wednesday.

We are deeply saddened to hear news of Susan Tsvangirai's death and we offer our condolences.

Foreign Office

Mr Mugabe has visited Mr Tsvangirai in hospital in Harare in the hope of quashing rumours he was involved in the accident.

But the rumours persist despite the driver of the lorry having said he was asleep at the wheel.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has sent his condolences to Morgan Tsvangirai."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman added it was "monitoring the situation closely".

"We are deeply saddened to hear news of Susan Tsvangirai's death and we offer our condolences," she said.

Mr Tsvangirai and his wife, who were married in 1978, had six children.

She preferred to stay out of the limelight but appeared by his side when he was charged with treason for opposing Mr Mugabe and put on trial.

Mugabe Allies Intensify Bid to Take Farms of Whites

http://www.washingtonpost.com

By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 7, 2009; Page A06

CHEGUTU, Zimbabwe -- The young men set up camp by a shed on the Etheredge
family's citrus farm just as Zimbabwe's new unity government was being sworn
in last month. They claimed to represent a senator who for two years has
sought to take the property despite court rulings that the family has a
right to keep it.

The targeting of Stockdale Farm, where unarmed squatters have done little
more than plow one field and hang around, is part of a surge in recent
attempts by cronies of President Robert Mugabe to confiscate the last of
Zimbabwe's white-owned properties, farmers' advocacy groups say. And some
government officials and Western diplomats warn that it shows the
volatility -- perhaps even the futility -- of the power-sharing arrangement
between Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 29 years, and longtime opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Last week, Tsvangirai demanded a stop to the farm seizures, which he said
were illegal. At his 85th birthday gala days later, Mugabe vowed that land
redistribution, which he calls a remedy for colonial injustice but which has
usually benefited his elite supporters, would continue until all white
farmers were gone.

Farmers' groups say the recent incursions have mostly been nonviolent,
unlike the invasions of white-owned farms that began in 2000, when ruling
party militias beat and killed several white farmers and displaced tens of
thousands of farmworkers. The land seizures have driven the destruction of
Zimbabwe's agricultural sector, economists say.

Just what the renewed push for evictions represents is unclear. Farmer Peter
Etheredge sees hope in the squatters' presence on his land, saying it
signals a fear among Mugabe's allies that the new government will soon put
an end to their looting.

"A friend said this is the last kicks of a dying horse," said Etheredge, 38,
a chain-smoking, blunt-spoken man in aviator sunglasses. "That's exactly
what it is."

Others, including some government officials, farmers and Western diplomats,
say the farm takeovers signal not panic, but defiance -- a move by
hard-liners in Mugabe's party to spoil a power-sharing deal they never
wanted, although its success is widely viewed as vital if the country is to
overcome economic ruin, hunger and cholera.

"There are people who are not interested in this inclusive arrangement,"
said an official with Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic
Change. "They would want to make sure they redirect or derail this process."

There have been several signs that the coalition rests on shaky legs.

Last week, Tsvangirai held a news conference at which he lambasted what he
deemed "parallel forces" at work and blatant defiance of the power-sharing
agreement. Among other things, he accused Mugabe of reneging on a promise to
release dozens of imprisoned civic and opposition activists.

Still, Tsvangirai's party says it is committed to staying in the coalition.
"You have to fight incrementally," said Nelson Chamisa, a party spokesman.

The Movement for Democratic Change has made some strides. Tsvangirai's
finance minister cobbled together the funds to pay civil servants $100 in
foreign currency for February, which prompted many teachers, who have been
on strike for nearly a year, to return to work.

But it is unclear whether the government can continue such payments. After
requesting $2 billion in aid at a regional meeting last week, Tsvangirai got
only a promise that the member countries would try to help. Western
governments have pledged not to lift sanctions or give development aid until
they see evidence of power-sharing and the restoration of democracy and the
rule of law.

Money is unlikely to be forthcoming while farms are being confiscated, a
fact Tsvangirai acknowledged last week, saying land seizures are
"undermining our ability to revive our agricultural sector and restore
investor confidence." He said he had commanded the two ministers for home
affairs, one each from his and Mugabe's parties, to pursue perpetrators.

But the perpetrators, farmers' groups say, are allies of Mugabe. In recent
weeks, they have used government orders and invasions to try to take at
least 77 of the 300 white-owned farms that remain, down from a peak of 4,300
in 2000, according to the Commercial Farmers Union.

Most of the farms' owners were plaintiffs in a legal challenge to Zimbabwe's
land seizures, which a tribunal of the Southern African Development
Community recently ruled were invalid and racially motivated. Zimbabwe's
government immediately said the decision would be disregarded, and Mugabe
referred to the tribunal last week as a "monster."

"The old regime does not want change," said Deon Theron, vice president of
the Commercial Farmers Union. "If money comes into the country, that would
bring about change. . . . All they have to do is create chaos, and the money
won't come, and they're still in the driving seat."

Farmers in this district southwest of the capital, Harare, said groups of
youths have shown up on at least 10 farms in recent weeks. Rob Taylor, who
owns a seedling farm and had been caring for a neighbor's dairy farm, said
the head of the local grain marketing board came to the properties in
January, threatened him and kicked him out.

The neighbor's cows have not been milked or treated for protection against
insects since, he lamented in an interview. He said he feared they would
soon be dead.

At the dairy farm on a recent afternoon, about eight young men hung out in
the muddy driveway, some sporting stylish sunglasses. They said they were
the "new owners" and asked a reporter where Taylor was -- they needed him to
milk the cows, they said.

"After the [Southern African Development Community] ruling, we should be
left alone now," Taylor said. But he expressed little hope that the new
government would stop the farms from being taken.

Etheredge, however, said he remained optimistic, despite the troubles his
family farm has endured since 2007. That was when Edna Madzongwe, a senator
and relative of Mugabe's, first said the government had given her the
50,000-tree expanse that the Etheredge family has owned for nearly 90 years.

Last summer, men who said they represented Madzongwe showed up on the farm
and threatened to kill Etheredge, the farmer said. The youths looted his
house, he said -- a pillaging he caught on grainy videotape.

Early last month, another band of young men came, also saying Madzongwe had
sent them. On a recent sunny day, the men lounged on the ground, their
campfire smoldering.

"They just do their own thing over there," said Fraser Chikutule, 58, who
runs the farm's irrigation system. Even so, he said, their presence was
worrisome. "I've been here for 27 years. We might end up losing our jobs if
they try to take over the farm."

Etheredge drove by without acknowledging the group. "The only way to deal
with this is through the courts," he said. But so far, he added, the
authorities had shown little willingness to get involved -- until last week,
when one of the youths accused Etheredge of trying to run him over.

Police slapped Etheredge with what he calls a trumped-up murder charge, the
farmer said wearily, dismissing the accusation as just another hurdle in his
quest to keep the farm.

"We're not backing down," said Etheredge's brother, James Etheredge,
standing on a recent day near an orchard of Valencia orange trees.

"This is ours," said Peter Etheredge, who chalked up the land seizures to
"racist" greed. "It's been bought and paid for."

Inclusive Govt Must Respect Human Rights

Zimbabwe: A seat at the table

 

The State We're In

06-03-2009

Watch the video

Sipepa "Sam" Nkomo describes himself as an old war horse when it comes to politics in Zimbabwe. He knows firsthand what it's like to have one's political rights denied.

Sipepa Nkomo is optimistic

Under the white rule of Ian Smith, he was incarcerated for fourteen years, without even being charged. After his release, he returned to politics, and was until a few years ago the CEO of an independent newspaper, the Daily News.

After white rule ended, Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party had a virtual stranglehold on the country's political system. As a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Sipepa and his colleagues were harassed, and essentially silenced. 

Now, both he and and fellow MDC members finally have a place at the political table in the new, so-called unity government. The question is: will it matter? Will the divisions which have defined Zimbabwean politics be overcome?

Family disputes
Sipepa is optimistic. After all, his own brother is a high-ranking official in Robert Mugabe's party. Family get-togethers can be extremely awkward given the dark history of Mugabe's rule. But Sipepa is determined to put the public good ahead of private feeling. He even managed to shake Robert Mugabe's hand for the swearing-in ceremony. As Sipepa himself says:

"I will ride on the back of a lion, as long as he takes me across the river."

Sipepa has, without a doubt, one of the most difficult jobs in the new government. He's the minister for water resources development and management, and as such he's responsible for fixing a water system which has all but collapsed.

Finding clean water is hard work

Cholera epidemic
The lack clean water sparked off a cholera epidemic which spread across all provinces. More than four thousand people have died and it's still not under control.

For most Zimbabweans, getting clean water takes a lot of time, hard work and money. Eunice Barbara Eka, lives at a senior citizen's home run by the Salvation Army in the capital Harare.

"There's no water and whatever comes out is black, full of germs and it stinks! It comes on sometimes at midnight you'll hear the water come trickling in. We get up and start filling buckets. We just deal with it. We are a tough nation, we Zimbabweans."