Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has died aged 65 after a long battle with colon cancer, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has confirmed.
MDC Vice President Elias Mudzuri reported Tsvangirai’s death on Wednesday:
"It is sad for me to announce that we have lost our icon and fighter for democracy," Mudzuri wrote.
After revealing that he had colon in 2016, Tsavingirai had been in and out of hospital in neighbouring South Africa.
Just last week, the former premier had taken to Twitter to play down speculation that his illness was terminal.
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"I have cancer and [am] not feeling too well, but I am stable and the process is under control. ... I am recovering," his February 6th post read.
The powerful speaker born in 1952 served as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe under ex-president Robert Mugabe between 2009 and 2013 in a coalition government.
In the 2008 elections, Tsvangirai was the main challenger to Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF. He won the election with 47% of the vote against Mugabe’s 43% but he fell short of the threshold needed to be sworn in.
The result prompted a rerun but Tsvangirai boycotted citing intimidation and harassment of his followers.
The death of Tsvangirai comes just months before the country conducts an election to elect a new president after Mugabe resigned.
Zimbabwe’s Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe and is set fly the ZANU-PF party ticket in the presidential elections later this year against the MDC party.
