Morgan Tsvangirai
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Morgan Tsvangirai (more-gan chang-ir-ai) (born March 10, 1952) is a Zimbabwean politician and trade unionist, and the leader and founder of the Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party in Zimbabwe.
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Early life
Tsvangirai was born in the Gutu area in central Zimbabwe, 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 Bindura. He spent ten years at the mine, rising from plant operator to general foreman.
Trade Union politics
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 1988 he became the Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the largest trade union organization in the country.
In 1989 he was imprisoned for six weeks on charges of being a South African spy. There have been three attempts to assassinate him, including an attempt in 1997 where unknown assailants burst into his office and tried to throw him out of a tenth-story window.
In 1997, he organized ZCTU strikes.
National politics
In 1999, he founded and organized the Movement for Democratic Change, an opposition party opposed to Mugabe's rule.
In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the MDC won 57 out of 120 seats. Tsvangirai himself was not elected. Turning down the opportunity of a seat in one of the cities, where the MDC's support is strongest, the MDC leader chose instead to stand in his home district - which, like most rural constituencies, was won by Zanu-PF.
Tsvangirai lost the March 2002 presidential election to Robert Mugabe of the ruling Zanu-PF party. The election provoked widespread allegations of vote rigging by Mugabe, through the use of violence, media bias, and manipulation of the voter's roll leading to abnormally high pro-Mugabe turnout in some areas.
Tsvangirai is Shona, part of Zimbabwe's ethnic majority. He does not smoke or drink. He is married and is the father to six children.
Treason cases
- Tsvangirai was arrested after the 2000 elections and charged with treason; this charge was later dismissed.
- 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, the South African human rights lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela, headed Tsvangirai's defence team.
See also
- Winter, Joseph. "Profile: Morgan Tsvangirai." BBC News. [1]
- MDC web site
