Tsvangirai May Not Be Back for Wife's Funeral


Morgan Tsvangirai may not be back in the country for the burial of his wife in Buhera on Wednesday.

Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the MDC, refused to commit himself to a time for the Prime Minister's return, only saying "the MDC president and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe willl return once medical attention and procedures have been completed."

Like I said in my previous post, if Tsvangirai does not return for the funeral, it would send an alarming signal about the future of the Coalition government and I doubt that, despite Chamisa's fuzziness, the Prime Minister would really stay away for such a sad and deeply personal occassion.

At the same time, Tsvangirai appears now to be succeeding in convincing western governments to back his deal and provide the aid Zimbawe needs to start working again.

The Australian government announced yesterday that it was rethinking its approach to Zimbabwe and considering "supporting Tsvangirai with aid" that goes beyond the humanitarian assistance currently provided.

It is a signal that Tsvangirai may have broken through with his insistence that the world should respect what Zimbabweans have decided about the future of their politics and step in with aid and credit lines.

Trevor Manuel, South Africa's minister of finance, also said last week that the ANC government is looking at reviving "an old credit line, going back to Rhodesia's UDI" to extend credit to Zimbabwe as part of the US$2 billion requested recently by Finance Minister Biti and the Prime Minister himself.

Perhaps they realise now that giving Zimbabwe a hand to get back on her feet would also strengthen Tsvangirai's internal position. 

There is not much they can do about the politics, these foreign partners. But as the Australian Foreign minister said yesterday, "It is a bit difficult because of the continued presence of Mugabe, but I am sure we can find ways to work around that."

Mugabe is guaranteed to frustrate that approach, since he believes, as he said at his birthday party, "I am still in charge and hold executive authority." Any attempt to circumvent him will see him assert himself. You should expect to hear him say the aid should stay out if it is going to deny his legitimacy.

Still, it is a victory, I think, that Mugabe is now reduced to having to tell people that he is still powerful, indicating that he feels a bit less powerful now, perhaps, or at least that his power is now doubted.

BURIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUSAN TSVANGIRAI

Mrs Tsvangirai will lie in state at her Strathaven Home at No 2 Lyndhurst Close in Strathaven. This will be today. Tomorrow, she will be taken to Glamis Stadium, near the Harare Showgrounds, where government ministers and the party faithful will take part in a Service.

From there, she will be taken straight to Humanikwa Village in Buhera, at about 2 p.m.

She will lie in state also at her rural home overnight and will then be buried on Wednesday morning.

Dr Makoni as well as our own movement, Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn, extend our sympathy and condolences to the Tsvangirai family and the MDC-T on this irreplacable loss, and we wish the Prime Minister a speedy physical and emotional recovery as he faces the personal and national challenges that lie ahead.

Comments

  1. Condolences to the Prime Minister at the sad loss of his wife Susan.But for him to stay put in Botswana whilst his wife's funeral and burial is conducted in Zimbabwe is taboo in our culture, if any such utterances have any grain of truth. It is very very unAfrican, it displays deep disregard for the late wife, for our African tradition, and to his inlaws who brought to this earth, someone who was by his side in all weather.
    It looked as if the injuries he sustained appeared not to be that much serious so as to prevent him from paying his respects to a dear wife of 31 years and six children.
    On another note I wonder how Aid that might be given to Zimbabwe through Tsvangirai's efforts will be made to circumvert the Head of State, it is just awkward, and I do not think there is any government that operates in that way. May be they want to try an experiment in Zimbabwe.There is no way Robert Mugabe can just diffuse from the Political scene, in the way his western enemies want.They have to work with him, that is what African Statesman have been telling the West, that they should respect what Zimbabweans have chosen. Zimbabweans did not choose to exclude Mugabe from the Political scene. That should be respected.Zimbabweans chose a hang Parliament which made it impossible or difficult for one party to go it alone, hence the inclusive government, that has Mugabe , Tsvangirai and Mutambara coming together. That is the will of the people of Zimbabwe which all the nations of the world should respect.Not the kind of hypocrisy we see practiced in certain parts of the world, eg when democracy went tha Hamas way, some westerners chose to destroy it, and not recognise it.In other way it is only democracy when it satisfies the wishes of a few western countries.That is why we see that any thug that is pro-west becomes a democrat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Denford, you are either grossly IGNORANT or you are totally LOST! Tsvangirai is already in Harare. I doubt f you are even in Zimbabwe. You are in the UK aren't you?

    ReplyDelete
  3. ZimEye,first take note of when that was written. AND then, just above where you clicked to leave your comment, if you were actually interested the articles here, you would have seen that there is a link to a newer story, written today after Tsvangirai's address to mourners at his house.

    But I guess if you have an agenda, you only rush in to do what you came for and leave.

    Stories here are written as soon as they develop here in Zim, which means that we often put up many updates in a day or within hours, as we did with Jestina Mukoko over Christmas.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments from Anonymous Users will NOT be published

Popular posts from this blog

Who Killed Elliot Manyika?

Another Tsvangirai Family Accidental Death

Zimbabwe: Petition To Free A Two Year Old Toddler From Prison