The wife of Zimbabwe’s prime minister, Susan Tsvangirai has died. A according to initial reports the car they were travelling in collided with a large truck. Morgan Tsvangirai was rushed to Avenues hospital.

Tsvangirai was travelling in a 4 car convoy, his car was 3rd from front when a haulage truck loaded with Maize, going towards Harare avoided the two security cars in front and drove towards Tsvangirai’s Toyota Hilux vehicle head on killing Susan instantly who was seated behind the driver.

Interestingly a commercial farmer in the area, Deon Theron who went to the accident scene to take photographs of the accident has been arrested and the police have since confiscated the camera. Theron is the Vice President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) he is being held at the Beatrice police station.

An MDC security team on the scene also reported that on inspection Mr Tsvangirai’s vehicle had a burst front left tyre and that the axel was faulty.

“Yes I can confirm that he was involved in a car accident along Harare-Masvingo road,” said Tsvangirai’s spokesman, James Maridadi.

“He has been brought to Harare and doctors are looking at him at a hospital.”

They were en route to Tsvangirai’s hometown of Buhera, Harare, when the accident occurred, Maridadi said.

Just last month, Susan Tsvangirai praised the power sharing agreement telling the BBC that the past decade had been an “endurance test” for her husband and his MDC colleagues.

“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 peace-loving Zimbabweans.

“To them I say thank you so much for the support they gave the MDC to reach this momentous period.”

Tsvangirai, who turns 57 on Tuesday, has been married to Susan for 31 years. They have six children.

Developing:
President Robert Mugabe and his wife have since visited Tsvangirai in Hospital.

ZBC ‘s News net Main news bulletin was cancelled without explanation and nothing has been reported on the second.The state broadcaster’s website reported the accident but left details about the wife’s death.

News coming in say police have rounded up members of an MDC investigation team which arrived at the scene first. “When police turned up, they arrested them (the MDC team) and confiscated the videos and pictures they had taken,” an eye witness said.

Britain’s government has just issued a short email statement : “We are deeply saddened to hear news of Susan Tsvangirai’s death and we offer our condolences, “We are monitoring the situation closely.”it read.

Share This Post

Tweet

Posted by Philip Mangena on March 6, 2009. Filed under Local News,Tondi's Blog on all things Zimbabwean. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.