Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai back in South African hospital

October 27, 2017
| Report Focus News
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai reacts after arriving at a rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 5, 2017. REUTERS/Philimon Bulwayo

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is back in a South African hospital for a medical review, nearly two weeks after he returned home from that country, his spokesman said on Friday, denying reports that he was critically ill.

Tsvangirai, who suffered severe vomiting after a party meeting and was in September airlifted to a Johannesburg hospital where he spent nearly a month receiving treatment and recuperating.

He returned to Zimbabwe on Oct. 13 but has not been seen in public since.

“He came back knowing full well he would return for a review and he went for the review as scheduled,” Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesman said.

He could not say when he expected Tsvangirai back.

Tsvangirai’s illness has divided the opposition, with some senior party officials saying the former trade unionist should consider stepping down to make way for a younger and fit leader.

Tsvangirai, 65, declared last year that he was receiving treatment for colon cancer. Despite the illness, he is leading an opposition alliance to challenge 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe in elections next year. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia and Toby Chopra)