Portal:Zimbabwe/Featured biography/November 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Morgan Tsvangirai IPA: ['mɔ(r)gən ˌtsvaŋgi'ra.i (the 's' and the 'v' being coärticulated)] born March 10, 1952) is the President of the mainstream wing of the Movement for Democratic Change, an opposition party in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai was born in the Gutu area in then-Southern Rhodesia, the eldest of nine children and the son of a carpenter and bricklayer. After leaving school early, in 1974 he started working for the Trojan Nickel Mine in Mashonaland Central. He spent ten years at the mine, rising from plant operator to general foreman.

Tsvangirai is a product of important social movements in Zimbabwe, which include the labour and constitutional reform movements. He is the former Secretary General of the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and is the founding chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly, a group that advocates for a new constitution for Zimbabwe.