Zimbabwe government to fulfil pledges made to Tsvangirai: President Mnangagwa

HARARE, Feb. 20 — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on
Sunday that the government will fulfill its financial and material promises
made to the late former prime minister and opposition Movement for
Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Addressing mourners at Tsvangirai’s home in Harare where he had gone to pay
his condolences, Mnangagwa said he would see to it that pledges he made to
the late premier are fulfilled, the state-run New Ziana reported. “I
visited Tsvangirai last month and made some promises to him. I will not
renege on those promises. My government will also settle his hospital bill
as promised.When funeral processes are done, I will let the family know
what I had promised him. I will fulfill all the pledges I made to him,”
said Mnangagwa.

The government was also paying for Tsvangirai’s hospital and medication
bills up to the time of his death. In January, Mnangagwa visited Tsvangirai
at his residence to check on him since he had been unwell for some time.
Mnangagwa said Tsvangirai’s body would be flown to his rural home in
Buhera for burial on Tuesday. “We are all Zimbabweans. We might disagree on
how to get where we need to be, but no political party wants the worst for
the country,” said Mnangagwa.  Tsvangirai died in South Africa on Wednesday
after a long battle with cancer. He was 65. The Zimbabwe government has
accorded him a state-assisted funeral. A former trade unionist, Tsvangirai
had been the face of Zimbabwean opposition politics since 2009. He became
prime minister in an inclusive government led by former President Robert
Mugabe in 2009 following disputed elections the year before. – XINHUA