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Mugabe at Susan Tsvangirai Memorial Service

by Rachel Nixon | March 10, 2009 at 11:00 am

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe spoke at a memorial service on Tuesday for Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of the country's prime minister, who was killed in a car crash last week.

The 85-year-old leader said he was "sincerely saddened" by her death.

"We are doing our best that we create a conducive environment and tell our supporters that the issue of violence must end," he said.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Glamis Stadium in the capital, Harare, for Tuesday's memorial service for Susan Tsvangirai. The funeral will take place Wednesday in Tsvangirai's rural village of Buhera, south of the capital.

Edwin Tsvangirai, the prime minister's eldest son, said he saw the president differently after hearing Mugabe's words.

"I would like to thank the president of Zimbabwe for his words today that made me change my understanding of him," he said, speaking at the memorial service.

Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) recently joined the power-sharing government with Robert Mugabe following last year's bloody election campaign.

His wife Susan was killed when the couple's car collided with a truck on a highway between their hometown of Buhera and Harare.

Speculation swirled that the crash was in fact an assassination attempt, however Mr Tsvangirai insisted that it had been an accident.

At the memorial service in Harare, Mr Tsvangirai spoke briefly:

Mr Tsvangirai, who turned 57 on Tuesday, reportedly briefly addressed the crowd to say: "Let's celebrate her existence as God's gift to me and you."

His closest aide, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, said: "We're so traumatised, brutalised, we couldn't feel the pain. Why, why, why?"