HARARE Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party yesterday commemorated the passing on of the wife of the MDC leader, Amai Susan Tsvangirai A much-loved, humble and down-to-earth mother, Amai Tsvangirai’s last decade on earth mirrors the MDC’s struggles of many the partys activists especially those who stood by the party during the violence of June 2008 but unfortunately never lived to see their party enter the government to begin the process of trying to change Zimbabwe from within the system.
Amai Tsvangirai tragically died just after the MDC had won some political power after it agreed to form a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabes Zanu (PF) party.
She did not live to enjoy the fruits of her sweat. Born in 1958, the MDC’s affable First Lady died on March 6, 2009.
Though professionally a homemaker, Mrs Tsvangirai was deeply influential in the political circles in the MDC, especially in the powerful women’s assembly.
A deeply religious woman, she used every day language even in the sophisticated circles she inhabited with her powerful husband, Morgan, now Prime Minister, to win hearts and minds of many Zimbabweans.
Selfless life
A series of events were organised this week to commemorate Amai Tsvangirai’s selfless life. A final ceremony was held on Saturday at Glamis Stadium in Harare where her body lay in state last year just before her burial.
Praising Amai Tsvangirai as a great patriot who spent her life serving her husband, family and country, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa described her as a treasured and avid MDC supporter known for her passion, dedication and devotion to her husband and the party.
“The people of Zimbabwe recall Amai Tsvangirai as the mother of our struggle for a peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe,” Chamisa told The Zimbabwean on Sunday.
“Amai Tsvangirai also stood by her husband during his trial on trumped-up charges of treason, four assassination attempts and the 11 March 2007 police beatings, including many other forms of harassment and assaults.”
Yesterday’s memorial service was held under the theme; A legacy of humility, courage, compassion and love, he said.
Modest lifestyle
Several MDC supporters highlighted Amai Tsvangirai’s identity as a “mother”, underscoring that she has become a precious part of the MDC’s social memory with her high moral standards, patriotism and modest lifestyle.
“Amai Tsvangirai felt this nation’s feelings, sufferings and moral values in her heart and expressed them in an influential way,” said political commentator Ronald Shumba.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai remembered her with respect saying that she was an outstanding woman “humble, courageous, compassionate and loving, a constant source of support”. Several MDC supporters drew attention to Amai Tsvangirai’s unique character full of love for her nation mentioning that her determination for struggle shed light for future generations.
Amai Tsvangirai was born Susan Mhundwa on April 24, 1958. She was raised in the Gunde area of Buhera district in Manicaland province.
Susan met her future husband, Morgan, in 1976 at the Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura in the then Rhodesia, where he worked at the time as a foreman. She was visiting her uncle at the time of their meeting.
They married in 1978 and the couple had six children during their 31-year marriage.
Amai Tsvangirai often avoided direct public spotlight. She played a significant, even if sometimes symbolic, role in Zimbabwean politics becoming one of the most popular figures within the MDC.
Immense significance
Dennis Murira, the MDC elections director, described her as “a woman who was of immense significance to the party, a woman who on several occasions managed to comfort a number of us who were victims of this struggle”.
Supporters often chanted “mother, mother” at rallies and party events. She remained by her husband as he faced treason charges and police beatings in his opposition to Mugabe.
In addition to her MDC campaign and rally efforts, Mrs Tsvangirai offered vital support to her husband, and the MDC-T. Following attempts on Morgan’s life, by groups loyal to Mugabe and Zanu (PF), Susan fed and nursed him back to health.
She was there in 1997, when an unidentified gang tried to throw Morgan from a 10th floor office window of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Chester House headquarters in central Harare, and in 2007 when he was admitted to hospital after a brutal assault by police at a prayer rally. She also made a point of visiting MDC members who were jailed while the party was in opposition.
Endurance test
In March 2009, following her husband’s success in forging a unity government, Amai Tsvangirai said in an interview that the past decade had been an “endurance test” for her, her husband and MDC colleagues.
A few days after that interview, or exactly a year ago yesterday, she was tragically taken away in a collision on the Harare-Masvingo Road approximately 80kms south of the capital, Harare leaving a devastated nation in mourning.
Her husband, who had been Prime Minister less than one month at the time of the accident, was injured in the crash. The couple had been en route to their home in Buhera, Manicaland, where they planned to stay the night before attending an MDC rally at Murambinda business centre the next day.
They were traveling in an all-terrain Toyota Land Cruiser within a three-car convoy when a truck belonging to the US aid agency United States Agency for International Aid (USAID) travelling in the opposite direction encroached into their lane and side-swiped their vehicle, causing it to roll over three times.
Prime Minister Tsvangiai maintains to this day that his wife’s death was a genuine accident, although others believe it was an assassination attempt.A die-hard party supporter, John Simango said one year on, he still mourned “the loss of our First Lady, Susan Tsvangirai”.
“She brought grace, class and style to everything she touched,” Simango said, adding; “The MDC and indeed Zimbabwe lost an icon in Amai Tsvangirai.”
Post published in: News