Zimbabwe Car Wreck Kills Prime Minister's Wife

[Cosmin M.]

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/world/africa/07zimbabwe.html?_r=1&hp

March 7, 2009

Zimbabwe Car Wreck Kills Prime Minister’s Wife

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The prime minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, was hurt and his wife, Susan, was killed Friday in a car crash about 45 miles south of the capital, according to officials of Mr. Tsvangirai’s political party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Mr. Tsvangirai was heading to his rural home for a Saturday rally when the crash occurred Friday afternoon. From his hospital bed in Harare afterward, he told one of his aides that a large truck driving on the other side of the road had come toward his Land Cruiser, the middle vehicle in a three car convoy.

“What he told me was that the truck went for his car,” said Dennis Murira, director of public affairs in the prime minister’s office. “That’s how he put it.”

The truck driver told the police that he had fallen asleep at the wheel, Mr. Murira added.

The crash, coming less than a month after Mr. Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister in a tense and long-negotiated power-sharing government with his rival, President Robert Mugabe, stirred deep suspicions in his party. But most officials were careful to say not enough was known about the collision to make any accusations of foul play.

Mr. Tsvangirai has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts during his years as an opposition leader. Last year, he fled the country, fearing for his life, after he outpolled Mr. Mugabe in March presidential elections. Forces loyal to Mr. Mugabe had begun a campaign of violence, trying to intimidate the opposition before a June runoff election for president.

Mr. Tsvangirai ended up withdrawing before the runoff because of attacks on thousands of his supporters. When the international community concluded the election was neither free nor fair, protracted negotiations led to a coalition government, with Mr. Mugabe as president and Mr. Tsvangirai as prime minister.

On Friday night, officials with Mr. Tsvangirai’s party expressed concern that the crash had not been an accident, but resisted reaching any conclusions.

“This will certainly demand an independent investigation,” said Eddie Cross, the policy coordinator for the Movement for Democratic Change. “We won’t accept a police report.”

Mr. Mugabe and his wife paid a condolence call to Mr. Tsvangirai at the hospital on Friday evening, Mr. Murira said.

Ian Makone, a secretary in the prime minister’s office, said he arrived at the crash scene about a half hour after the fact. He said one of the drivers in Mr. Tsvangirai’s convoy told him that an oncoming truck “had clipped the right rear fender of Morgan’s car.”

Mr. Tsvangirai said the driver of his vehicle swerved to avoid the truck, according to Mr. Murira. But a trailer attached to the truck hit the prime minister’s Land Cruiser, which rolled over three times. Mr. Makone confirmed that the vehicle had flipped over, saying it was lying on its roof when he arrived.

As soon as they heard about the crash, opposition officials began trying to figure out what had happened. “I was looking for someone to get to the site because I was very suspicious about the circumstances around the accident,” said Hendrick O’Neill, a party member from the area where the crash occurred. So he contacted Deon Theron, the vice president of the Commercial Farmers Union, who lives near the scene. “Morgan has been a target for some time.”

Mr. Theron rushed to the crash site and began to investigate, Mr. O’Neill said. “Just as he finished, the police arrived and grabbed the videocamera from him, started questioning him and took him into custody.”

Mr. O’Neill said he spoke to Mr. Theron by cellphone as he was being arrested. “He told me the left front tire had burst and the vehicle was on its roof,” Mr. O’Neill said. “He climbed on the vehicle. Some of the undercarriage was loose or broken. It could have been the result of the accident. That’s what he was filming when they seized him.”

Mr. Tsvangirai and his wife were married for more than three decades. They have six children, including twins, age 14.

“They were a team; they were very effective and extremely close,” Mr. Cross said of the couple. “She was very much a pillar of support, spiritually and in every other way. Morgan will feel her loss enormously. I can’t think of many couples as close as those two.”

[Cosmin M.]

It is isn't it. I feel sorry for them and their family.

[Cosmin M.]

[GoLions]

Today a Sabbath school we had a man from Zimbabwe share what is going on in his country. The health care is non-existant, people are very poor, their money is worthless (worst in the world?). Things are very bad. But guess what. The church is growing, if you look at percentages, their tithe and offerings are the best among the surrounding area's. They are looking for the soon coming of the Lord. Get ready, these conditions maybe soon coming to a country near you!! Jesus is coming... Are you ready?

[Woody]

When times get bad ... people find that they need the Lord. Perhaps what happened to Zimbabwe is what needs to happen to the US. Not that I am wishing that. But, it may be necessary for people to come to the Lord.