(TALKZIMBABWE) Fatal crash: Tsvangirai aide refused state protection

Fatal crash: Tsvangirai aide refused state protection
Our correspondent
Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:43:00 +0000

IAN MAKONE, the Secretary in the Prime Minister's office wrote a letter turning down an offer of security-trained State drivers in preference for drivers from the MDC-T party, according to Government sources. State drivers would have driven the Prime Minister and his wife on the fateful day of the crash, which claimed the life of Mrs Susan Tsvangirai.

Finance Minister and Secretary General of the MDC-T party, Tendai Biti said the accident that killed Mrs Tsvangirai would have been avoided had the state accorded the Prime Minister a state convoy.

Biti told reporters after the fatal accident that if Prime Minister Tsvangirai had a State motorcade that warned people of his approach and made them get off the road then the tragic accident in which Mrs Tsvangirai died would not have happened. He appealed to President Mugabe to give Prime Minister Tsvangirai "the protection he needed".

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara also blamed the Government for failing to provide adequate security to Prime Minister Tsvangirai.

A fuming Mutambara told journalists in Harare that the accident could have been avoided if Prime Minister Tsvangirai had been provided with a proper police escort.

"The reason why Morgan Tsvangirai was in a party Land Cruiser with his wife was because he could not get two high clearance vehicles from the state of Zimbabwe. That is a travesty of justice in this country,” said the Deputy Prime Minister after the fatal crash.

Details emerging, however, reveal that Makone had preferred MDC-T party protection over State protection.

It is alleged that he wrote to CMED (Private) Limited with a list of drivers he wanted to chauffer the Prime Minister around, complete with full names and license details.

"He ... proffered a list of eight drivers, their national identification numbers and their licence numbers," according to state reports.

Contacted by The Herald newspaper over the accusations that the State had failed to accord protection to the Prime Minister and his wife, Makone refused to answer and referred questions to Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi.

According to the daily, Maridadi said the MDC-T party was "not overly concerned about what instructions were given pertaining to drivers and security ahead of the fatal accident".

"I think we should focus on beefing up security and ensuring that it does not happen again," he was quoted as saying.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai says the accident was genuine. He is currently in South Africa where he is recovering from the accident and taking time off with his family to mourn the death of his wife.