Sad news from Zimbabwe: Morgan Tsvangirai and his wife were in a traffic accident today. Morgan was injured, but his wife was killed.
This is an absolute tragedy. But it also raises an uncomfortable question that it's still far too soon to answer.
But there certainly were powerful people in Zimbabwe who had a motive to harm Tsvangirai.
This is sad news coming out of the seemingly constantly troubled nation of Zimbabwe. Even if you don't follow world news that closely, chances are still good you've heard of some of the troubles going on, especially those of the allegedly exceptionally fraudulent elections that happened last year.
Morgan Tsvangirai was running against President Robert Mugabe, a man whose regime is largely responsible for some sheer turmoil being experienced by Zimbabwe's peoples. (Once considered the breadbasket of Africa, food production came to a screeching halt in the last few years. This was largely due to Zimbabwe's seizure of big white-owned farms and the expulsion of those farmers, a policy that has proven devastating. Inflation hit ridiculous levels where common goods fetched trillions of dollars of Zimbabwean currency. Also, due to the economic crisis, government agencies were not able to afford to continue operating; this lead to a huge cholera outbreak.)
It was clear that Morgan Tsvangirai had won the first round in the election: the only dispute is whether he achieved a true majority of voters: if not, then the contest was to move to a run-off. Well, the numbers weren't released for more than a month after the election, and they showed, sure enough, that there would have to be a runoff between Tsvangirai and Mugabe. After a campaign of terror against Tsvangirai's supporters ensued, he eventually stepped out of the running.
To maintain some semblance of legitimacy, though, Mugabe agreed to a "power-sharing" agreement in which Tsvangirai would be Prime Minister while Mugabe remained President. That was a few months ago.
And today, he and his wife got into a traffic accident that tragically killed the wife.
Motive for foul play? By the boatload. According to the New York Times, there's been increasing political tension, specifically against those in Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Tensions have been rising in the new government over the arrest of MDC official Roy Bennett.
Zimbabwean police have arrested a magistrate who tried to release Bennett while his case was still before the country's highest court, a police spokesman said on Friday.
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court on Thursday granted prosecutors the right to appeal against a ruling by a High Court judge to grant bail to Bennett.
Livingstone Chipadze, a magistrate who refused to drop terrorism and banditry charges against Bennett two weeks ago, had tried to process the High Court's bail ruling before the Supreme Court had heard the state's appeal, police said.
Is it possible there's a conspiracy surrounding Tsvangirai's accident and the death of his wife? I certainly believe that if this were to happen, Zimbabwe would be the kind of country where it'd be the most plausible. Of course, this is pure speculation, and of course traffic accidents happen routinely; this could just be an innocent but nonetheless tragic accident.
But there needs to be plenty of outside pressure to make sure that this incident is actually investigated. More broadly, it'll be crucial to watch what happens to the nation in the near future. Zimbabwe is the kind of nation rife for a civil war: there's a financial crisis, civil unrest (including by members of the military, who aren't being paid consistently), and a political threat to Robert Mugabe's regime. Zimbabwe could get a lot worse before it gets better.
Update: CNN has released more details of the accident:
Tsvangirai's aide and driver also were injured in the head-on collision with a large truck, according to Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi. (emphasis added)