Thousands of Zimbabweans on Sunday attended memorial services for the late Movement for Democratic Change founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, in the country’s capital city, Harare.
They included the nation’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa, some top Zanu PF and MDC-T officials, members of both the MDC-T and ruling party, and other people.
Mnangagwa told journalists that Tsvangirai wanted to ensure that Zimbabwe was a democratic state.
“We have lost a man who when we write the history of this country cannot leave out his participation and the role the former prime minister played in the effort to entrench democratic values in this country … In the coming national elections, I am appealing to all the political parties in this country to hear my call that we need no violence … We need fair, free and credible elections this year.”
Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, will be laid to rest Tuesday.
The 65-year old Tsvangirai, died Wednesday in South Africa after a long battle with cancer. He formed the MDC in 1999 to challenge then President Robert Mugabe, who was forced out of office in November when a military uprising ended his 37-year hold on power.