Morgan Tsvangirai's Wedding Halted Again

A court in Zimbabwe has blocked Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's lavish wedding planned for Saturday, ruling he is already married. Earlier this week, a high court judge said Locadia Tembo's customary marriage to Mr Tsvangirai was not legal. But now a magistrate has agreed with her and ordered the wedding, which several heads of state were due to attend, to be put on hold. Mr Tsvangirai's lawyers are seeking an urgent order to proceed with the event. Also on Friday, they defeated another legal attempt to prevent the wedding - by Nozipho Shilubane from South Africa, who claims Mr Tsvangirai had promised to marry her. Some analysts say the court cases bear all the hallmarks of a political dirty tricks campaign to smear the reputation of Mr Tsvangirai ahead of next year's elections, in which he is due to challenge President Robert Mugabe. But others say he only has himself to blame as he has been involved with a number of women since his wife died in a car crash soon after he became prime minister in 2009. Maintenance demand President Mugabe, who is in a fractious coalition with Mr Tsvangirai, is due to attend Saturday's wedding to Elizabeth Macheka, 35, the daughter of a local politician from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. The BBC's Brian Hungwe in the capital, Harare, says the ceremony had been set to take place in an upmarket area north of Harare. Mr Mugabe is due to host a post-wedding banquet for other heads of state who will be there, he says.