Zimbabwe: how many more must die?

Morgan Tsvangirai at the church service in Harare for his wife, Susan.

About 1,000 people attended the funeral of Susan Tsvangirai at the Methodist Church she attended.

The President, Robert Mugabe, spoke

"We shall do our best, our possible best to ensure that the environment that we create in the country is a conducive environment," Mugabe said in calling for an end to violence.

(AP report here)

The Times observed,

Mr Mugabe has rarely shown such a human, conciliatory side since 1980, when he made an impassioned appeal for reconciliation after the bloody civil war against the former white minority Rhodesian Government. He spoke then of “the age of love” and of “turning swords into ploughshares”.

A rally later at a sports arena was attended by several thousand people (15-30 thousand, depending on reports) but not Mugabe - and any mention of his name was booed.

From the MDC press release:

Giving a keynote address at Glamis Stadium, MDC Secretary-General and Finance Minister, Hon. Tendai Biti said the question everyone was asking was why this accident had happened.

“Most of us are in pain but the majority of us are so shocked we could not feel the pain,” he said. Hon. Biti said Amai Tsvangirai was an honest and loving grandmother, a Christian, a revolutionary and a mother of the struggle for change and democracy in Zimbabwe.

“She was an activist and revolutionary in her own right. She believed in the same values as her husband in wishing to bring about democratic change in Zimbabwe through a new, people-driven Constitution,” he said. …

“As a result we must take her passing on as an inspiration and must stop feeling pity for ourselves,” said Hon. Biti.

Reuters has video of the funeral and Voice of America has audio reports from the rally which followed. BBC report.

Mmegi asks, How long shall they kill our prophets?

The first real accident that happened to Morgan Tsvangirai and family was his mistaken belief that he could tame the old crocodile that has been eating the children of Zimbabwe from the days of Chimurenga. How many more should die to keep this man in power?

History is not forgotten.


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