Tsvangirai – five crucial political moments

The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, the main opposition to Zimbabwe’s ruling political party, the Zanu-PF, Morgan Tsvangirai died last night after a battle with colon cancer.

Tsvangirai died aged 65 after spending 18 months in South Africa receiving treatment for the disease.

Here is a brief look at the five most impactful moments of his political career.

• In 1988, Tsvangirai becomes a full-time secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), a union whose opposition to Robert Mugabe’s policies grew in the late 80s and 1990s. [sources: Wikipedia and obituary].
• 1999, Tsvangirai helped to found the “labour-backed Movement for Democratic Change,” according to his obituary. The party was the opposition to Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.
• In 2000, the MDC is credited for the defeat of the proposed new Constitution of Zimbabwe. The rejection of the draft constitution was seen as Mugabe’s political defeat. That same year, the MDC won 57 of the 120 seats in the Zimbabwean parliament.
• In 2008, Tsvangirai came close to beating Mugabe at the polls after receiving 47.9% (1,195 562) of the votes in the first round of voting, according to Wikipedia. In the second round, his political opponent gained 85.5% of the votes.
• In 2013, Tsvangirai suffered his biggest electoral defeat after his MDC – T, the larger group of the organisation that split in 2005, came second in the polls with 34%, while ZANU-PF won the two-thirds majority.

Professor Jonathan Moyo, who was part of the convention convened to for the Constitutional Convention to draft the proposed new Constitution of Zimbabwe, which Tsvangirai is credited for its rejection, tweeted: “A PEOPLE’S HERO inspires supporters & challenges detractors to make a better society. As such a hero, #MorganTsvangirai enabled deeply divided Zimbabweans to see the link & difference between hard won #INDEPENDENCE & #DEMOCRACY; based on free, fair & credible elections. #RIPSave,” following Tsvangirai’s death.

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.