The Sunday Mail
Brian Chitemba
MDC-T vice-president Ms Thokozani Khupe’s tenure in the post could end soon amid indications party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is side lining her because she organised demonstrations and meetings without his blessings. Ms Khupe’s flopped #beatthepot demonstration a fortnight ago in Bulawayo, and another meeting in Mutare, were organised without Mr Tsvangirai’s consent as the opposition leader underwent cancer treatment in South Africa.
Believing his deputy was staking a claim to the MDC-T presidency, Mr Tsvangirai unilaterally appointed Messrs Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri as party VPs.
A party insider told The Sunday Mail, “Khupe has seriously fallen out of favour with Tsvangirai and her future in the party is bleak. The problem is she has been doing her own things as if she is the leader of the party. For now, she is surviving on the basis that the party wants to protect its Matabeleland vote.”
An MDC-T official said Ms Khupe’s rise to party VP had been hotly contested as the grassroots preferred Ms Gertrude Mthombeni, who is now late, to her.
MDC-T insiders also suspect that a lawsuit against Mr Tsvangirai over his appointment of Messrs Chamisa and Mudzuri could have been sponsored by the Khupe faction.
The opposition is sharply divided as one faction is rallying behind Ms Khupe along side the likes of Mr Douglas Mwonzora (secretary-general), Mr Obert Gutu (spokesperson) and Mr Abedinico Bhebhe (organising secretary).
Mr Chamisa is said to be backed by party deputy secretary-general Dr Tapiwa Mashakada, deputy chair Mr Morgan Komichi, Bulawayo East MP Ms Thabitha Khumalo, deputy treasurer Mr Charlton Hwende and deputy organising secretary Mr Amos Chibaya.
MDC-T spokesman Mr Gutu said; “The MDC-T is a united party. We have absolutely no factions in our party … In the MDC-T, we are one very big, happy and united family under the able and charismatic leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai.”
However, a source said: “Khupe and her followers are just a disgruntled lot who feel Chamisa was not supposed to have been elevated. There is fear that Chamisa is likely to take over from Tsvangirai who is facing ill-health. Khupe is not popular and hence she doesn’t stand a chance to succeed Tsvangirai.”
Indications are that the two new MDC-T deputy leaders have already drawn battle lines as they race to succeed Mr Tsvangirai, who returned to South Africa for treatment soon after announcing their appointments.
“Chamisa commands more support than Mudzuri in terms of grassroots . . . Mudzuri has more maturity and experience though. They are not in good books because they have competing interests,” said an official.
