Black Looks

Cross-posted @kameelahwrites.

I will be honest and say that I immediately assumed foul play, however, I will let the developing evidence guide my conclusions. I will say that folks are already talking conspiracy and suspicion.

Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai has flown to neighbouring Botswana for medical tests and rest, a day after a car crash which killed his wife, his party says.

A source close to Mr Tsvangirai told the BBC he was exhausted and needed time to come to terms with events.
His MDC party says it will carry out its own inquiry into the cause of the crash. But officials have said nothing to suggest they suspect foul play.
[...]
State TV reported that the prime minister had hurt his head and neck.

Mr Tsvangirai was on his way to his rural home in Buhera, where he planned to hold a weekend rally, when the crash occurred near Beatrice at about 1600 local time (1400 GMT) on Friday.

Police said a lorry carrying freight crossed into the lane in which the prime minister’s 4×4 was travelling and side-swiped the vehicle, causing it to roll over three times.

US embassy officials say the lorry belonged to a partner organisation of the US government aid agency USAID.
Mr Tsvangirai and his wife Susan, 51, who married in 1978, had six children.

Friends and relatives gathered at the Tsvangirai family home on Saturday to console one another for her loss.
[...]
MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti paid tribute to Mrs Tsvangirai on Saturday, calling her “a mother to us and to our struggle”.

Speaking at a news conference, he said the accident could have been avoided if a police escort had been provided.

“Logic would have demanded that a police escort be provided to the prime minister to warn other traffic and this tragedy could have been avoided,” he said.

However, correspondents point out that Mr Tsvangirai was not entirely comfortable with security provided by the new government, relying instead on his own security teams. read more

Now that Zimbabwe is “officially” a power-sharing government, I wonder how the aforementioned tragedy will affect MDC and ZANU-PF relations considering the amount of warranted distrust that exist between the parties. There are the allegations that Deon Theron who took pictures at the scene of the crime was arrested and had his camera taken away. Also, there is the lingering issue of the MDC ministerial nominee Roy Bennett who is still in custody after being accused of links to an alleged plot to kill Mr Mugabe. Yet another issue of land contestation and intimidation in Zim. Bennett was picked by Tsvangirai for the post of deputy agriculture minister but was coincidentally arrested on February 13 as the new cabinet was about to be sworn in for Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government. As sources share, Bennett “had farmed a coffee plantation until Mugabe’s government seized his land in 2003 as part of a politically-charged and violent programme to give white-owned farms to blacks.” As South Africa’s Mail & Guardian shares, there is additional Zanu-PF v. Bennett rivalry. Maybe Mugabe fears retribution and a reversal of land programs? Roy Bennett’s arrested is only further complicated by the March 6th arrest of Livingstone Chipadze, the magistrate in the eastern city of Mutare who ordered the release of Roy Bennett. Let’s see if this official “power-sharing” scheme materializes…and if “power-sharing” is even a possibility given the morally vapid manner by which Mugabe maintains his power.