Crash injures Tsvangirai, kills wife

Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai was injured in a car crash on the outskirts of the capital today and his wife was killed, officials said.

Mr Tsvangirai had been travelling to a weekend rally in the prime minister’s home region, south of Harare, when their car crashed with a truck, his spokesman James Maridadi said. No other details on the crash were immediately available.

Mr Maridadi initially said the injuries to the Tsvangirais and an aide who also was in the car were not life-threatening.

Later, two officials from the Movement for Democratic Change party told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that 50-year-old Susan Tsvangirai was dead and that an official statement would come later from the family.

Finance minister Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai’s No 2 in the party, told reporters after visiting the Harare hospital where the crash victims were taken that the prime minister was stable, but refused to answer questions about Susan Tsvangirai’s condition.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sent his condolences to Morgan Tsvangirai. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British government was “deeply saddened to hear news of Susan Tsvangirai’s death and we offer our condolences”.

The Tsvangirais, who married in 1978 and had six children, often went together to political events, but she did not have a prominent public role.

President Robert Mugabe arrived at the hospital late in the evening, spent about an hour inside and left. He and other senior aides who also visited did not speak to reporters or Tsvangirai supporters gathered outside.

The road where the accident occurred is like many in Zimbabwe – in poor condition because of a lack of maintenance – and is notorious for accidents. Long stretches have been reduced to one lane.

State television cancelled its first evening newscast without explanation and reported nothing about the accident in its second.

MR Tsvangirai, who turns 57 next week, was sworn in February 11 as Zimbabwe’s prime minister in a power-sharing deal meant to end almost a year of deadly stalemate with Mr Mugabe. The unity government has been rocky after years of rivalry between Mr Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader, and Mr Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980.