Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister and opponent-in-chief of President Robert Mugabe, ended last week with an emotional statement about how he was breaking up his brand new marriage amid suspicions that he’d been set up by Zanu-PF. This week he continued along the same lines, alleging he was the target of a plot to plant some kind of incriminating documents in his offices. Apparently, the plan was for the police to raid the offices once the documents were in place and discover them.

“The raid, which is scheduled to take place in the next two weeks, will result in the discovered documents being used not only to prosecute the Prime Minister and some members of his leadership, but also as an excuse to pull out of the inclusive government without implementing the necessary reforms needed for a free and fair election,” said Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka. No word on what would have been in the documents.

Tsvangirai’s allegations have been wholeheartedly denied by both the police and the attorney general Johannes Tomana. Tomana described the plot as a figment of Tsvangirai’s imagination.

The latest incident comes at a difficult time for Tsvangirai. The collapse of his short-lived marriage has delighted his opponents, but also caused his supporters to question his judgment; one prominent Zimbabwean pro-democracy club, based in London, has called for him to step down as leader of his party. DM

Read more:

• Plot to nab Tsvangirai on Zimbabwe Metro;
• Zimbabwe PM says Mugabe side on a mission to fix him on the Africa Review;
• Call for PM to step down in Zimbabwe’s NewsDay.

Photo: REUTERS