Mugabe and his wife have visited his former long-term rival in hospital.

Speaking outside the private clinic in Harare, Tsvangirai's spokesman James Maridadi said of the prime minister: "I saw him. I spoke to him. He walked from the vehicle that brought him to hospital, he is fine," according to the BBC.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a senior MDC official, also told reporters that Tsvangirai was "stable", adding that doctors would give further details in due course.
State television reported that the prime minister, who will turn 57 next week, had suffered some injuries to his head and neck.

The report quoted police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena as saying that a lorry carrying freight had crossed into the lane in which Tsvangirai's 4x4 was travelling and had side-swiped his vehicle, causing it to roll over three times.

The prime minister was on his way to his rural home in Buhera, where he planned to hold a weekend rally, when the crash occurred near Beatrice at about 1600 local time (1400 GMT).

The AFP quoted an MDC minister as saying the driver of the lorry had been asleep at the wheel.
So far, though, officials of Tsvangirai's MDC party have not said anything to suggest that there may have been foul play.
 
All Zimbabwe's roads are in a poor state of repair, after years of neglect and the collapse of the country's infrastructure, he adds.

The crash comes just two days after Tsvangirai delivered his maiden speech to parliament after being sworn in as prime minister in Zimbabwe's power-sharing government.

He and his wife Susan, who married in 1978, had six children.

Thabitha Khumalo, a member of parliament for the MDC who is in Scotland for an international women's conference, said the loss of Mrs Tsvangirai, whom she had known well, was a "huge blow" for the country.

"It is a very sad day for me and for all Zimbabweans, whether they be at home or abroad. She was a mother figure for the whole nation," she said.

"Few people knew about her work. Whenever they saw her she was accompanying her husband to court or to vote, but very few people knew she played a very crucial role behind closed doors... She was a pillar of strength to [her husband]. In a struggle like his, you need someone to lean on and she was always there for him."