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Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (English IPA: /ˈtʃɑːŋgəˈraɪ/; Shona IPA: [ts͡vaŋgiˈra.i]; the 's' and the 'v' are coarticulated), born March 10, 1952) is a trade unionist, human rights activist, and President of a faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2002 presidential election, which the MDC considered rigged. He was again a candidate in the 2008 presidential election; although he claimed an outright win, official results showed him with merely a plurality, necessitating a run-off vote against President Robert Mugabe.
[edit] Early lifeMorgan Richard Tsvangirai was born in the Gutu area in then-Southern Rhodesia, 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 Mashonaland Central. He spent ten years at the mine, rising from plant operator to general foreman. His current rural home is Buhera which is 220km south east of Harare. [edit] Political activism
Morgan Tsvangirai is a product of important social movements in Zimbabwe, which include the labour and constitutional reform movements. He is the former Secretary General of the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and is the founding chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly, a group that advocates for a new constitution for Zimbabwe. 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 1989 he became the Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the umbrella trade union organization in the country. Tsvangirai led the ZCTU away from its alliance with the ruling Zanu PF. As his power and that of the movement grew, his relationship with the Government deteriorated. He has been a victim of premeditated and government-inspired harassment and violence, including three assassination attempts,[1], which include the 1997 attempt, where unknown assailants burst into his tenth story office and tried to throw him out of the window. [edit] Gukurahundi criticismThree years after Zimbabwe won independence, Robert Mugabe ordered the Fifth Brigade, a specially trained (by North Korea) military unit, into Matabeleland in cohorts with the Minister Of Defence Enos Nkala, led by Air Marshal Perence Shiri because of suspicions of an alleged counter-revolution being planned by Joshua Nkomo. The operation was code named Gukurahundi. Morgan Tsvangirai questioned the motive of the massacre with the ZANU PF leadership in 1984 [2]. Tsvangirai has periodically toured the mass graves of the victims in Tsholotsho, Kezi, Lupane, Nkayi and other places in Rural Matabeleland. Addressing villagers in Maphisa in 2001 he said:
[edit] National Constitutional AssemblyMorgan Tsvangirai served as Chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in 1997 which was formed as a grouping of individual Zimbabwean citizens and civic organisations including, labour movements, student and youth groups, women groups, churches, business groups and human rights organisations. These individuals and groups formed the NCA to campaign for constitutional reform after realizing that the political, social and economic problems affecting Zimbabwe were mainly a result of the defective Lancaster House Constitution and can only be resolved through a new and democratic constitution. He stepped down after being elected president of the MDC. [5] [edit] The SOLIDAR Silver Rose AwardIn 2001 Morgan Tsvangirai was awarded the prestigious 2001 Solidar Silver Rose Award.The award was for outstanding achievement by an individual or organisation in the activities of civil society and in bringing about a fairer and more just society. At a crucial period for world stability, the Solidar Silver Rose Award winners “show the positive change that can be brought about by determined individuals and organisations”, the citation read.[6] [edit] Movement for Democratic ChangeIn 1999 Tsvangirai founded and organized the Movement for Democratic Change, an opposition party opposed to Mugabe's rule, and help for the unexpected triumph of the defeat of the 2000 constitution referendum, on which Morgan Tsvangirai alongside the National Constitutional Assembly campaigned successfully for the 'NO' vote,against Robert Mugabe's Government led Constitution Referendum February 12 & 13 2000. Tsvangirai lost the March 2002 presidential election to Robert Mugabe of the ruling Zanu-PF party. The election provoked widespread allegations that Mugabe had rigged the election, through the use of violence, media bias, and manipulation of the voter's roll, leading to abnormally high pro-Mugabe turnout in some areas. [edit] Arrests and political intimidationTsvangirai was arrested after the 2000 elections and charged with treason; this charge was later dismissed. [7][8] In 2004, Tsvangirai was acquitted of treason for an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe in the run-up to the 2002 presidential elections. George Bizos, a South African human rights lawyer who was part of the team that defended Nelson Mandela & Walter Sisulu in the famous South African Rivonia Trial in 1964, headed Morgan Tsvangirai's defence team. [edit] October 2000 arrestTsvangirai was arrested after the government alleged that he had threatened President Robert Mugabe. The Movement for Democratic Change leader had told 40,000 supporters at a rally in Harare that if Mr Mugabe did not want to step down before the next elections scheduled for 2002 "we will remove you violently". However Tsvangirai said that he was giving a warning to President Mugabe to consider history. "There is a long line of dictators who have refused to go peacefully - and the people have removed them violently", he said. The courts dismissed the charges.[9] [edit] June 2003 arrestIn May 2003 Tsvangirai was arrested on a Friday afternoon shortly after giving a press conference, the government alleged he had incited violence. In the press conference he had said:
[edit] March 2007 arrest and beatingOn March 11, 2007 a day after his 55th birthday, Tsvangirai was arrested on his way to a prayer rally in the Harare township of Highfield.[11] 
His wife was allowed to see him in prison, after which she reported that he had been heavily tortured by police, resulting in deep gashes on his head and a badly swollen eye.[12]. The event garnered an international outcry and was considered particularly brutal and extreme. He was tortured by a crack commando unit based at the army’s Cranborne Barracks on March 12, 2007 after being arrested and held at Machipisa Police Station in the Highfield suburb of Harare.
"He was in bad shape, he was swollen very badly. He was bandaged on the head. You couldn't distinguish between the head and the face and he could not see properly," Innocent Chagonda, an attorney, told Reuters after visiting a Harare police station where Tsvangirai was being held.[14] A Zimbabwean freelance cameraman, Edward Chikombo, smuggled television pictures of the badly injured Morgan Tsvangirai, opposition leader, out of the country following the beating. Chikombo was later abducted from his home in the Glenview Township outside Harare. His body was discovered on the weekend near the village of Darwendale, 80 kilometres west of Harare. This has been part of a pattern of abductions and punishment beatings that has become a terrifying nightly ritual in Zimbabwe, where scores of opposition activists and their relatives have been attacked by government sanctioned gangs using unmarked cars and police-issue weapons.[15] According to lawyer Tendai Biti, the Secretary-General of the MDC and an MP for Harare East, who was arrested along with Tsvangirai, Tsvangirai suffered a cracked skull and "must have passed out at least three times." Tsvangirai was subsequently admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a local hospital.[16] Reports from BBC News indicate that Tsvangirai suffered from a fractured skull and received blood transfusions for internal bleeding. Although the incident was a clear case of political violence ordered by Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai has since had very little political support from surrounding African countries.[17] [edit] Raid at MDC headquartersTsvangirai was released, but on March 28, 2007, Zimbabwean police stormed the Movement for Democratic Change 44 Harvest House national headquarters and once again arrested him, hours before he was to speak with the media about recent political violence in the country.[18] [edit] International reaction to political violenceThe arrest of Tsvangirai and a crackdown on opposition officials that followed was widely condemned.
 [edit] Tsvangirai's bodyguard killedOn 25 October 2007 it was reported that Nhamo Musekiwa who was Morgan Tsvangirai's bodyguard since the formation of the MDC in 1999, had died from complications resulting from injuries sustained in March 2007 during a crackdown by the government. The MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Musekiwa had been vomiting blood since March 11, 2007, when he is alleged to have been severely beaten by police along with other opposition officials and members including Tsvangirai himself. That day police halted a prayer meeting and in the ensuing confrontation one MDC activist was shot dead. [28] [29] [edit] International discussions[edit] Meeting with John HowardIn August 2007, Tsvangirai met Prime Minister of Australia John Howard in Melbourne, and after talks told the media that countries like Australia can play a very important role in the struggle against President Robert Mugabe's regime. [30] [31] [edit] Tsvangirai meets Mbeki over Zimbabwe CrisisIn September 2007 it was widely reported that Tsvangirai met Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa for crucial talks on how to speed up talks between the ruling ZANU PF and the Movement for Democratic Change party. [32] [edit] Tsvangirai meets Odinga over Zimbabwe CrisisIn May 2008 Tsvangirai met Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister Kenya who urged him to contest an election run off against Mugabe. [33] [edit] 2008 electionA presidential election was held on March 29, 2008, along with a parliamentary election on the same day.[34][35] The three major candidates were Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Simba Makoni, an independent.[36] According to data collected (photographed) at the close of each polling station, the MDC collated the data for electoral results. The evidence is held by them electronically. Whenever this kind of information is collected by the MDC, the government regularly raids their offices hoping to confiscate the data which is kept abroad. A short time after the election, the Government ordered weapons of war from China, to be transported through South Africa. [37] The official results of the presidential elections' first round were finally released on May 2, 2008 and hotly contested by the MDC representatives. According to the results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Tsvangirai won the first round, amassing 47.9% of the votes against 43.2% claimed by Mugabe.[38] This means that no candidate has the necessary 50% plus one vote to be declared the winner after the first round and a run-off will be needed. MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa called the announced results "scandalous daylight robbery". The MDC continues to assert that it won an outright victory in the first round with 50.3% of the votes.[39] Tsvangirai, who has been in South Africa since the election, announced on May 10 that he would participate in a presidential run-off with Mugabe. The date of the run-off is unclear, but Tsvangirai said that it should take place within the three week period following the announcement of results that is specified by the Electoral Act. He made his participation conditional on "unfettered access of all international observers", the "reconstitution" of the Electoral Commission, and free access for the media, including the international press.[40] [edit] Further reading
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