Zimbabwe PM hurt, wife killed in car crash

HARARE, March 7, (AFP) - Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was hospitalised on Friday after a car crash that killed his wife, just three weeks after taking office in a unity government, his party said.

The couple was headed to their hometown in Buhera district where he was to hold a rally on Saturday, but their car was hit by a freight truck and Susan Tsvangirai died at the scene, party officials said.
"He is stable," Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai's top political aide, told reporters after visiting the premier at a private hospital.

An AFP file photo taken June 24, 2000 shows New Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (R), with his wife Suzan casting their votes in Buhera some 170 km south of the capital Harare.

Douglas Gwatidzo, a physician who visited Tsvangirai, declined to give details on his injuries but said "he is okay." Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was quoted by state television as saying that the truck had crossed into the oncoming lane and side-swiped Tsvangirai's vehicle.

"The 4x4 Toyota Landcruiser is understood to have overturned and rolled thrice," the report said. Tsvangirai's spokemsan James Maridadi told reporters at the hospital in Harare that the accident happened at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT), and that two other people were in the car.

"The driver of the truck appeared to be sleeping," an MDC minister told AFP. Another source who had visited him at the hospital said Tsvangirai's head appeared swollen, but doctors had not yet commented on his condition.

President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace went to the hospital to visit him, but did not speak to reporters. Tsvangirai was sworn in three weeks ago as prime minister, joining his long-time rival Mugabe in a unity government.

Ministers from both Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's ZANU-PF were seen entering the hospital to visit him.

But the crash raised new concerns about the success of the government that has been shaken by the arrest of Roy Bennett, a one-time white farmer who became a top aide to Tsvangirai, and disputes over the appointments of top officials.

"Tensions are still high and there is a lot of mistrust going on between the two political divides," Sydney Masamvu, a Zimbabwe analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.