Morgan Tsvangirai
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Morgan Tsvangirai (more-gan chang-ir-ai) (born March 10, 1952) is a Zimbabwean politician and the leader and founder of the Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party in Zimbabwe.
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Early life
Tsvangirai was born in the Gutu area in central Zimbabwe, the eldest of nine children and the son of a carpenter and bricklayer. After leaving school early, in 1974 he started working for the Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura. He spent ten years at the mine, rising from plant operator to general foreman.
Trade Union politics
Tsvangirai became branch chairman of the Associated Mine Workers Union and was later elected into the executive of the National Mine Workers Union, and in 1988 he became the Secretary-General on the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the largest trade union organization in the country.
In 1989 he was imprisoned for six weeks on charges of being a South African spy. He has also been a victim of premeditated and government inspired harassment and violence. There have been three attempts to assassinate him, including an attempt in 1997 where unknown assailants burst into his office and tried to throw him out of a tenth-story window.
In 1997, he organized ZCTU strikes.
National politics
In 1999, he founded and organized the Movement for Democratic Change, an opposition party opposed to Mugabe's rule.
In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the MDC won 57 out of 120 seats. Tsvangirai himself was not elected. Turning down the opportunity of a seat in one of the cities, where the MDC's support is strongest, the MDC leader chose instead to stand in his home district - which, like most rural constituencies, was won by Zanu-PF.
He lost the March 2002 presidential election to Robert Mugabe of the ruling Zanu-PF party. The MDC is currently contesting the country's national and presidential elections in the courts after alleged vote rigging by Mugabe, through the use of violence, media bias and abnormally high pro-Mugabe turnout in some areas.
Tsvangirai is Shona, part of Zimbabwe's ethnic majority. He does not smoke or drink. He is married and is the father to six children.
Treason cases
- In 2003, Tsvangirai was again charged with treason for an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe in the run-up to the 2002 presidential elections. George Bizos, a human rights lawyer from South Africa, headed his defense team. His trial began on February 3, 2003, and ended on February 24, 2004. The judgment was scheduled to be delivered on July 19, but was postponed indefinitely. The acquittal was delivered by the High Court on October 15.
- He faces another case of treason on November 3rd 2004, based on an alleged incitement to engage in a march to unseat the government in the so-called final push in June 2003.
See also
- Winter, Joseph. "Profile: Morgan Tsvangirai." BBC News. [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1870283.stm)de:Morgan Tsvangirai