The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube Sunday News Reporter
AS the beleaguered opposition MDC-T continues to be hit by internal strife, the party is reportedly making strides at further weakening the powers of one of its deputy president, Ms Thokozani Khupe (pictured) amid revelations that the party will be holding their 17th birthday celebrations in Bulawayo. Ms Khupe who has been the party’s only deputy president, had a rude awakening recently when their leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai appointed two more deputy presidents; Mr Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri.
According to impeccable party sources, the decision to hold the celebrations in Bulawayo was mainly meant to unveil the two new deputy presidents a move they alleged was aimed at showing the province, which has largely been aligned to Ms Khupe, that her powers had been drastically reduced.
The celebrations will be held at a yet to be confirmed venue in the city on 10 September.
The latest revelations in the backdrop of reports that Ms Khupe allegedly plotted to oust party leader Mr Tsvangirai by trying to “steal” his medical files and present them to the opposition’s financiers mostly European envoys to prove that he was now “so sick and likely to be killed by cancer by 2017” hence the need to give him a retirement package.
Party sources have revealed that the party is now aiming to counter a move by the Khupe-led faction in the province of reneging from any instruction tabled by the two deputy presidents, especially Mr Chamisa who is understood of also having a big following in the province.
“Khupe is now viewed to be a threat to the presidency hence, Tsvangirai decided to hold this year’s celebrations in the city, to show, to what is considered her strong hold that her powers have been effectively reduced.
“This time around, Ms Khupe will seemingly play a minor role in the celebrations, with Mr Chamisa being given a leading role, something which will be a clear statement to Ms Khupe and her faction,” said the source.
Contacted for comment the party’s secretary-general Mr Douglas Mwonzora confirmed the impending celebrations but said there were no ulterior motives in holding the celebrations in Bulawayo.
“It will just be a celebration where we will be looking back at where we came from, what we have achieved and where we are headed. We expect all our members to be with us during this wondrous occasion.
“MDC-T is a big party and a big party has to have a big birthday party which is what we are organising in Bulawayo. There is no ulterior motive, it is just a birthday celebration being held in the city,” said Mr Mwonzora.
Since Mr Tsvangirai made the new deputy presidential appointments, Ms Khupe has continually refused to comment on her new colleagues in office, instead alleging that Mr Tsvangirai was the only one who could comment on the matter.
A couple of weeks ago media reports revealed that Ms Khupe allegedly met Mr Jesse Louis Jackson, one time a Democratic presidential nomination candidate and an American civil rights activist in Morocco where she told him that Mr Tsvangirai was sick and could not lead the party.
