Morgan Tsvangirai | |
---|---|
![]() Tsvangirai in 2009 | |
2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe | |
In office 11 February 2009 – 11 September 2013 | |
President | Robert Mugabe |
Deputy | Thokozani Khuphe Arthur Mutambara |
Preceded by | Robert Mugabe (1987) |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
President of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Movement for Democratic Change (1999–2005) | |
In office 30 September 1999 – 14 February 2018 | |
Preceded by | Gibson Sibanda |
Succeeded by | Nelson Chamisa |
Leader of the Opposition | |
In office 30 September 1999 – 14 February 2018 | |
President | Robert Mugabe Emmerson Mnangagwa |
Preceded by | Abel Muzorewa |
Succeeded by | Nelson Chamisa |
General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions | |
In office 10 May 1987 – 30 September 1999 | |
Preceded by | Masotsha Ndhlovu |
Succeeded by | Wellington Chibebe |
Personal details | |
Born | Morgan Richard Tsvangirai 10 March 1952 Gutu, Southern Rhodesia |
Died | 14 February 2018 Johannesburg, South Africa | (aged 65)
Cause of death | Colorectal cancer |
Political party | Zimbabwe African National Union (before 1987) Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (1987–1999) Movement for Democratic Change (1999–2005) Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (2005–2018) |
Spouses | |
Children | 9 |
Signature | ![]() |
Website | Government website Party website |
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (/ˈtʃæŋɡɪraɪ/; Shona pronunciation: [ts͎a.ᵑɡi.ra.i];[need tone] 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013.[1] He was president of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), and a key figure in the opposition to former president Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai was the MDC candidate in the controversial 2002 Zimbawean presidential election, losing to Mugabe. He later contested the first round of the 2008 Zimbawean presidential election as the MDC-T candidate, taking 47.8% of the vote according to official results, placing him ahead of Mugabe, who received 43.2%. Tsvangirai claimed to have won a majority and said that the results could have been altered in the month between the election and the reporting of official results.[2] Tsvangirai initially planned to run in the second round against Mugabe, but withdrew shortly before it was held, arguing that the election would not be free and fair due to widespread violence and intimidation by government supporters that led to the deaths of 200 people.
Tsvangirai sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a car crash on 6 March 2009 when heading towards his rural home in Buhera. His first wife, Susan Tsvangirai, was killed in the head-on collision.[3] As the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état occurred, Tsvangirai asked Mugabe to step down.[4][5] He hoped that an all-inclusive stakeholders' meeting to chart the country's future and an internationally supervised process for the forthcoming elections would create a process that would take the country towards a legitimate regime.[6][7] On 14 February 2018, Tsvangirai died at the age of 65 after reportedly suffering from colorectal cancer.[8]