Morgan Tsvangirai

Morgan Tsvangirai, current Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and leader of the MDC (an opposition party), was born on March 10,1952 in Buhera, Zimbabwe.  He was the ninth son of a bricklayer, and he himself found work in the trades.  Tsvangirai left secondary school to work as a textile weaver, and he later found a job in the mining industry.  An advocate for human and labor rights, he quickly became involved in the mine’s labor union. 

Morgan Tsvangirai was soon leader of the mining union, and in the late 80’s he became the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.  While leading this organization, Morgan began to spread his views of democracy and liberty; soon enough, he had turned the ZCTU away from the corrupt, ruling ZANU-PF party.  Towards the end of the 90’s, Tsvangirai began to rise as a politician when he led a series of strikes against tax increases imposed by Robert Mugabe.  The strikes were successful in influencing the cancellation of two tax increases. 

In 1999, Tsvangirai founded and organized the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).  Months had passed, and the party was already gaining ground in defeating Robert Mugabe’s plan for a reform of the Zimbabwe Constitution.  Among the changes Mugabe had in mind, several clauses would have allowed the uncompensated seizure of farms owned by white men.  This defeat was the biggest blow Mugabe had taken from an opposition party since independence.

Tsvangirai stands for the extension of freedom and opportunities for Zimbabwean people.  He primarily represents the younger generations and urban workers.  He is a very charismatic leader and politician whose primary focus is family, an end to violence and intimidation, and liberation for his people.

Morgan Tsvangirai was educated through the Executive Leaders Development Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  He earned his diploma in June of 2001.  Tsvangirai is now, also, the founding chairman of the National Constitution Assembly, which advocated for a new, more righteous and fair constitution. 

As Morgan Tsvangirai has developed the MDC, dissipating his relationship with the ruling party, he has faced a series of unfortunate and torturous events.  Tsvangirai has been arrested on a handful of accounts for alleged treason and threats against Robert Mugabe; his charges have always been dismissed and acquitted.  He has also faced four assassination attempts, one in which phony police broke into his office and attempted to push him out of a window.  Probably the most serious act of violence that Morgan has faced was abduction, part of a nightly abduction ritual carried out by government-sanctioned gangs.  During his abduction, Tsvangirai was beaten and is reported to have passed out at least three times, suffering a cracked skull and internal bleeding.

Despite the run-ins he has had with the misruling, corrupt dictatorship, Tsvangirai remained committed to the democratic struggle, and now, as we have learned in the previous blog posts, he has risen to the seat of Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

More recent news of Morgan Tsvangirai involves a tragic head-on collision Morgan and his wife, Susan, had with a tractor-trailer.  In the accident, he suffered head injuries and lost his wife of nearly three decades, with whom he has six children.  Unfortunately, but inevitably, the crash has raised suspicion of a premeditated attack by Mugabe towards Tsvangirai.  Robert Mugabe has somewhat of a track record for killing off his political foe in car crashes.  Tom McDonald, US ambassador of Zimbabwe from 1997 to 2001, has urged a full investigation by outside authorities of the incident.  The cabinet approved this investigation on March 19^th. 

3/27/2009