10 Mar 2009

Tsvangirai rules out foul play in wife's death

5:31 am on 10 March 2009

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan has ruled out foul play in a car crash that killed his wife and says it was an accident.

Mr Tsvangirai was speaking on his return from Botswana, where he was recovering from injuries he suffered in the crash.

His wife Susan was killed when a truck collided with their vehicle on Friday, forcing it to roll off the road.

Mr Tsvangirai says there is a "one in a 1000 chance" that the incident involved foul play.

"It was an accident which unfortunately took a life. I am sure that life has to go on and I'm sure she would have liked for life to go on," he said.

The BBC reports many people in Zimbabwe are suspicious about Mrs Tsvangirai's death, because of past acrimony between Mr Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe.

Mrs Tsvangirai will be buried on Wednesday. They had been married 31 years.

The driver of the truck appeared at a court in Chivhu, 150km south of Harare, on Monday.

He was granted bail and remanded to return to court on 23 March.