...Tsvangirai’s fact file

MORGAN Richard Tsvangirai was born on March 10, 1952 to Dzingirai Chibwe Tsvangirai and Lydia Zvaipa in Gutu, the third largest district in Masvingo Province.

He was the first born in a family of nine.

Tsvangirai received his secondary education at St Marks Goneso Primary School in Hwedza in Mashonaland East and Gokomere High School in Masvingo Province.

1972: Joins Elastic & Tapes Textile Mutare at the age of 20

1974: Gets a job as a plant operator at Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura, Mashonaland Central 100km North East of Harare

1978: Marries Susan Nyaradzo Mhundwa 1980: Joins ZANU-PF 1985: Becomes vice president of the Mine Workers Union

1988: Becomes Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general. 1988: Leaves ZANU-PF 1991: Survives a Vote of no confidence by the ZCTU amid allegations of abuse of office.

1997: Organises anti-Government strikes.

1997: Becomes chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly

1999: Helps form the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), becomes party leader.

2000: Runs for Parliament in Buhera North and loses to his cousin Kenneth Manyonda who is Manicaland Governor at the time.

2002: Runs against Robert Mugabe and loses, a result he contested in courts.

2001: Graduates from Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government, with a diploma from the school’s Executive Leaders in Development Programme.

2005: MDC splits and his party was renamed to MDC-T (with the T derived from his surname Tsvangirai)

2008: Wins the first round of the Presidential election by a thin margin prompting a rerun. Loses runoff

2009: Is sworn in as Prime Minister in the inclusive Government.

2009: Loses wife Susan in a car accident near Beatrice.

2010: Receives an Honourably Doctor of Law Degree from Pai Chai University in South Korea

2011: Marries Locadia Karimatsenga in a short-lived marriage.

2012: Tsvangirai marries Elizabeth Macheka, whom he lived with till the time of his death.

2013: Is accorded a Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration by the Sun Moon University South Korea

2013: Loses harmonised elections to former President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF.

2016: Is diagnosed with cancer of the colon

2018: Dies aged 65 in Johannesburg, South Africa