Politics is a game for the living, not for the dead. Zimbabwe’s interim president, Ernest Mnangagwa, said as much when he received the body of the fallen courageous opposition figure, Morgan Tsvangirai, in Harare. He described the founder of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, as an outstanding political figure who had endured political hardship and deserved his place in the country’s history.
Mr. Tsvangirai, the strongest opponent ever to face the ousted dictator, Robert Mugabe, and his ZANU-PF party’s four decades of rule, died last Wednesday, aged 65 in South Africa where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer.
In the words of President Mnangagwa while paying his condolences to the family yesterday, “When we write the history of this country we cannot leave out the participation and role that the former prime minister played in the effort to entrench democratic values in this country. He travelled a difficult journey and we should remember that.”
The body of the opposition icon, which was flown home to Zimbabwe yesterday, will be buried at his rural home in Buhera, today.
President Mnangagwa also urged unity as the country mourned the death of a man who had become the symbol of resistance to authoritarian rule and of the fight for democracy. “Let us all be united, let us be brothers and sisters and come together and mourn our former prime minister with that spirit. We are all Zimbabweans.”
Before being forced into a power-sharing deal with ZANU-PF as a prime minister, Mugabe caused Tsvangirai to be beaten up by police, after which he was charged with treason and jailed. Mnangagwa appealed “to all political parties in this country to hear my call that we need no violence in this country. We need fair, free and credible elections this year as a tribute to our fallen opposition leader”.
The former trade union stalwart pulled out of an election run-off in 2008 following a flare-up in violence which claimed at least 200 opposition supporters. He defeated Mugabe in the first round of presidential elections, but fell short of enough votes to be declared the winner.
Tsvangirai’s death came as tensions over his succession are threatening to tear apart the MDC, which he had led since its formation in 1999. The situation could be exploited by Mnangagwa in the coming elections.
