Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai hurt, wife killed in crash

[Hadenamadjid]

HARARE - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife was killed and he was injured in a car accident on Friday, a source in his party said.

Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai was taken to hospital but was not in a critical condition. He was still awaiting details.

Another MDC source said Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, was killed.

Tsvangirai was sworn in last month as prime minister of a government with old rival President Robert Mugabe, set up to try to end a political and economic crisis that has brought the once relatively prosperous country to ruin.

MDC sources said Tsvangirai's motorcade was involved in the accident some 50 km (30 miles) south of Harare as he headed to his rural home in Buhera.

Tsvangirai, who turns 57 on Tuesday, has been married to Susan for 31 years. They have six children.

Although Susan was not actively involved in Tsvangirai's party, she has supported him and appeared at campaign rallies with her husband over the last 10 years.

The new government faces an array of problems: food and fuel shortages, the world's most serious hyperinflation and a cholera outbreak in which nearly 88,000 people have been infected, with nearly 4,000 killed, according to the World Health Organisation.

Zimbabweans and Western donors are hoping the new administration can deliver political stability after a power-sharing deal was reached in September.

Tsvangirai, a union leader who was a thorn in Mugabe's side as head of the main opposition MDC), is under pressure to rescue the ruined economy.

Analysts say he may also face new political challenges from Mugabe, pushing to give his ZANU-PF party an upper hand over the MDC in the new administration.

Tensions have been rising in the new government over the arrest of MDC official Roy Bennett.

Zimbabwean police have arrested a magistrate who tried to release Bennett while his case was still before the country's highest court, a police spokesman said on Friday.

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court on Thursday granted prosecutors the right to appeal against a ruling by a High Court judge to grant bail to Bennett, a former white farmer.

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