Nomination for the 2008 Sakharov Prize
Morgan Tsvangirai
President of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe
For many years Morgan Tsvangirai
has fought for democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law in Zimbabwe. At
enormous personal risk he has led the main opposition party and has
courageously endured a succession of assassination attempts and politically
motivated arrests. In 2007 he was imprisoned, tortured, and severely beaten in
the face of an international outcry, yet he refused to surrender his place in
the first line of those standing up against the political oppression and
corruption of the Mugabe regime. In the last eight years the European
Parliament has committed itself to the cause of democracy in Zimbabwe with
no fewer than sixteen resolutions calling for an end to the atrocious situation
in that country.
Mr Tsvangirai is the son of a
bricklayer and was first employed as a textile factory worker in Mutuare. He
has been married to his wife Susan since 1978 and they have six children.
His political background is in the
trade union movement and in 1994 he became Secretary General of the Southern
Africa Trade Union Co-ordinating Council.
In 1997 he took office as President of the National Constitutional
Assembly, opposing the violence of the Mugabe regime and becoming a strong
advocate of democratic norms and human rights.
He founded the broad-based Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999,
was elected its President in February 2002 and has stood firm in the cause of
freedom of speech and of human rights. He was the MDC candidate in the 2002 and
the 2008 Presidential elections in Zimbabwe. On both occasions Mugabe
was fraudulently re-elected.
Morgan Tsvangirai stands for
equality of opportunity and treatment for all Zimbabweans. He wants to build a true participatory
democracy with accountable and transparent government. He aims to create a united, non-racial,
non-sexist and democratic society. He
believes that there needs to be a programme of land reform but that it should
be carried out in an orderly and humane fashion and in a way that will not lead
to economic destabilisation. He has
called for continued international pressure against the Mugabe regime, as Zimbabwe
descends further into political, economic, and humanitarian catastrophe.