Opposition MDC-T led by Senator Douglas Mwonzora has announced that it will this afternoon host an annual lecture in remembrance of former Prime Minister, the late Morgan Tsvangirai who succumbed to cancer on the 14th of February in 2018.
Tsvangirai was a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a party he led from 1999 when it was formed until 2018 when he died. In a statement, the party said:
President Morgan Tsvangirai passed away on 14 February 2018. Honouring his memory, we will host the annual Morgan Tsvangirai Memorial Lecture at MRT House tomorrow (Monday). We shall forever preserve his legacy.
Another opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), which morphed from MDC Alliance early this year, described Tsvangirai as a champion of democracy.
CCC which is led by Nelson Chamisa, a former Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services (GNU era) said:
On this day, 14 February 2018 we lost a champion for democracy in Zimbabwe, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
We remember his contribution to the struggle and we will ensure that we complete the mission.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s political career began with his election as the Secretary-General of the national trade unions umbrella body. During this period, the movement criticised the government’s failure to improve the lives of the workers and this placed Tsvangirai in the political limelight.
Tsvangirai had earlier on joined active politics in 1987 and 1989 after leading a series of strikes against the ZANU-PF government’s tax increases when he was the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Secretary-General.