The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Supporters and officials from the MDC gathered at the party headquarters in downtown Harare reminiscing about the man who came closest to ending Mugabe’s stranglehold on power.
“The nation has lost an icon. We have lost our father,” Lilian Timveos, an MDC senator told AFP, while battling to hold back tears.
“He was a visionary leader. His legacy will live on forever. My heart is tattered and torn.”
Some supporters drove around the city centre playing party music honouring Tsvangirai.
The EFF sends revolutionary condolences on the passing of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
May his soul rest in power! pic.twitter.com/tvsMGIzwoY
— EFF (@EFFSouthAfrica) February 14, 2018
Hair salon owner Batsirai Tambaoga said Tsvangirai’s death was a blow that had shattered the opposition ahead of general elections in a few month’s time.
“His death is a shattering blow especially with the elections coming soon,” Tambaoga said. “It will be difficult to fill the gap he has left. He did a great job and deserves national hero status.”
– ‘A mountain has fallen’ –
Bookseller and party supporter Patrick Tasi said: “We have lost a hero. He stood firm and on the side of the people when the dictatorship was at it’s most dangerous.”
Thandi Moyana, 25, an accountant in the second city of Bulawayo said Tsvangirai “taught everyone about fighting on and soldiering for what is right”.
The European Union said in a statement that Tsvangirai will be remembered as “a courageous man who… stood up for multi-party democracy and justice”.
Tsvangirai was beaten up by state security agents and incarcerated several times both as a trade union chief and opposition leader.
In one instance he appeared in court wearing a torn shirt with a swollen eye and gash on his head after being beaten up for organising a prayer rally in 2007.
The following year he defeated Mugabe in the first round of general elections, barely missing the majority vote required to be declared the ultimate winner.
He was forced to pull out of the run-off election, citing a flare up in violence which claimed the lives of at least 200 of his supporters.
In 2009 he went into a power-sharing government with Mugabe, serving as prime minister until elections in 2013.
