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March 29, 2024, 02:16:56 PM

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Morgan Tsvangirai dies

Started by Fambo Number Mive, February 15, 2018, 10:21:43 AM

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Fambo Number Mive

Sad - hopefully the MDC will recover. The Zanu-PF regime has been a disaster for Zimbabweans both black and white.

Quote...The course of Tsvangirai's life was determined by his long political battle against Mugabe, the former guerrilla leader who had run Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 until November.

The oldest of nine children, Tsvangirai left school at 16 to help support his family. As a young miner he become a labour activist and rose through the ranks of the Associated Mine Workers Union. In 1988, he was elected secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the overarching body of the country's labour movement.

In 1999, Tsvangirai founded the MDC. Although heavily influenced by the trade union movement, the party incorporated the church, business, women's and students' organisations and other interest groups.

As Mugabe launched a programme of radical measures designed to bolster his power but which brought economic chaos, Tsvangirai and the MDC stepped up their challenge to the government through a series of nationwide strikes and, despite fierce intimidation, came close to winning power in parliamentary elections in 2000 and in a presidential vote in 2002.

Tsvangirai's leadership was questioned after a serious split in MDC ranks in 2005, when he overruled a decision by the party's leadership to take part in elections for the senate and ordered a boycott.

Mugabe's tactics of harassment enhanced the opposition leader's reputation as a tenacious, courageous opponent of repression. Images of Tsvangirai after being badly beaten following a prayer meeting that police claimed was illegal were published around the world...

Though his perception was more mixed once the MDC joined the unity government, I still admire him.