By Paul Nyathi
Wind back to today in 2009, then Prime Minister now late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai survived a horrific road accident which however would not spare his wife Susan Nyaradzo nee Mhundwa.
When news of the passing on of Susan was announced, the MDC-T Deputy Spokesperson, Thabitha Khumalo described her “as a mother figure for the whole nation,” a nation which nine years on shouldn’t allow the day of her passing on to pass unrecognised.
Nine years on, Susan Tsvangirai now lies peacefully next to her husband, Morgan, who passed on three weeks ago. The late MDC-T President was buried right next to Susan at their rural home in Humanikwa Village, Buhera.
Susan Tsvangirai was killed in a collision accident on the Harare-Masvingo Road on 6 March 2009.
Her husband, Morgan, who had been prime minister less than one month at the time of the accident, was injured in the crash.
The couple had been going en route to their home in Buhera, where they had planned to stay the night before attending an MDC-T meeting the following day at Murambinda Business Center, a few kilometres from their home.
They were travelling in a Land Cruiser within a three car convoy when a truck belonging to the US aid agency, the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID) travelling in the opposite direction crossed into their lane and side-swiped their vehicle, causing it to roll over three times.
Morgan said his wife’s death was an accident. The British foreign ministry said the truck was part of an aid project jointly funded by the US and UK and that the crash appeared to be “a genuine accident”.
Susan was born on 24 April 1958.
She was raised in the Gunde area of Buhera District, which is near Dorowa Minerals.
The late Susan Tsvangirai met her future husband, Morgan, in 1976 at the Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura, Rhodesia, while visiting her uncle.
Morgan, at this time was working as a foreman at the mine.
Morgan reportedly told a friend at the time, “That is the girl I am going to marry!” They married in 1978 and the couple had six children during their marriage, which lasted for 31 years.