Tsvangirai nominated for Sakharov prize

By Tichaona Sibanda
4 September 2008

MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai has been nominated to win the European Union Parliament’s 2008 Sakharov prize for his courage to stand up for democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech in Zimbabwe.

The prestigious award, which was won in the past by luminaries such as the former South African President Nelson Mandela is named after the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. It was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations that were dedicated to the defence of human rights and freedoms.

Bjorn Hultin, political consultant in Sweden for the EU told Newsreel on Thursday that Tsvangirai’s nomination would send a message of enormous encouragement to all those striving for democracy and good governance not just in Zimbabwe but throughout Africa.

He said under Tsvangirai’s leadership, the MDC has risen to protect the rights of the people in Zimbabwe in the face of deep rooted intolerance and persecution.

The Sakharov Prize is awarded annually on or around 10 December, the day on which the United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and is also celebrated as Human Rights Day.

MDC’s chief representative in London Hebson Makuvise said, despite Tsvangirai facing stiff competition from outstanding personalities like the Dalai Lama and Franco-Colombian ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt, he deserves to win on account of standing up to a brutal regime.
“He together with many others in the country has been fighting one of the most brutal regimes in the world for a decade. He has been imprisoned, tortured and has endured several assassination attempts but he has not given up of freedom for fellow Zimbabweans,” Makuvise said.

The other candidates for the award are the NGO European Roma Rights Centre, jailed Chinese pro-democracy campaigner Hu Jia, Belarusian political prisoner Alexandr Kozulin, Russian human rights activist Mikhail Trepashkin and Abbot Apollinaire Malu Malu, head the Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission.

The EU parliament’s foreign affairs committee will narrow down the list to three names on September 22 before the winner is chosen in mid-October and the prize presented in a Strasbourg plenary session on December 16. Among the previous winners are the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ex-UN secretary general Kofi Annan.