The two-lane road between Harare and Beitbridge, Zimbabwe's main border crossing to South Africa, is one of the most dangerous I have driven. It is deeply cratered. Speeding, exhaust-belching lorries, which would never pass a British MoT, grotesquely overloaded trucks and trundling donkey carts jostle for position. Vehicles breThis was where Morgan Tsvangirai narrowly escaped with his life
yesterday, and his wife was killed. It may well have been an accident.
Scores happen every day on that road. People are regularly injured or
killed. The problem is that Robert Mugabe’s regime scarcely deserves
the benefit of the doubt, especially if reports that the police
confiscated MDC film of the accident scene are true.
Mr Mugabe’s henchmen have had his opponents killed in car crashes before.
They have spent years trying to silence Mr Tsvangirai through
assassination attempts, trumped-up treason charges, death threats,
beatings and torture.
They are now being asked to share power with this man and for some that is too much to stomach.
Ever since the unity Government was set up in mid-February a shadowy
group of military and security chiefs has been conspiring to undermine
it. The big question is whether it is acting with the secret blessing
of the wily Old Crocodile, or whether Mr Mugabe has simply lost control
of his own party.