Tsvangirai's fall out with Khupe escalates

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fallen out with his deputy, Thokozani Khupe, who is accused of being over-ambitious and threatening his position leading to some members plotting her ouster.

The most glaring signs of bad blood between the two, sources said, came out of yesterday's meeting of the party's national council in Harare that expelled one of Khupe's closest aides and removed her alleged proxies from leadership positions in Bulawayo province.

There were also alleged plots to humiliate Khupe in Masvingo where the party is scheduled to hold a rally at the weekend.

Khupe broke down and cried at the party's national council meeting two weeks ago after receiving a barrage of insults from party activists accusing her of pushing for the party to contest in the June 10 by elections in 16 constituencies, which Tsvangirai - with the backing of the majority of the council - had said should be boycotted.

Khupe's driver and party activist, Witness Dube, was expelled from the party for allegedly assaulting Bulawayo East legislator Dorcas Sibanda in the party's last national council meeting two weeks ago.

Dube, insiders said, had before his sacking been earmarked for a position as a director in the party's national organising secretary Abednicho Bhebhe's office.

The meeting also resolved to reinstate Sibanda as Bulawayo provincial chairperson, removing Nomvula Mguni, another alleged Khupe ally.

Sibanda was appointed to the position last October when Matson Hlalo launched a court appeal to challenge Bulawayo deputy mayor Gift Banda's election as provincial chairperson. She was recently "suspended" by the province for allegedly threatening to set up parallel provincial structures.

Sources said the party reversed the decision, arguing that Sibanda was a member of the national council and appointed by the same body to act as chairperson hence could not be suspended by the province.

The party, sources said, also resolved to write to Hlalo calling on him to abandon his court action against the party where he filed papers proving that MDC-T had acted in contempt of court by continuously recognising Banda as chairperson yet he had been interdicted from the post.

"The suspension against Hlalo late last year has also been lifted with the party trying to convince him that an arbiter would be engaged to deal with the matter, but the party fears that there was no way they were going to win the case," a source said.

"What's happening is that all of Khupe's allies are being removed from influential positions. It shows that Tsvangirai has shifted his support from Khupe to the rival faction in Bulawayo province. It doesn't matter if Hlalo ends up being chairperson or Sibanda continues acting as the two belong to the same camp."

The sources said in the meeting, Tsvangirai spoke against violent clashes in Bulawayo at the weekend where pro-Khupe youths were accused attacking fellow party members.

"On the issue of violence, it's hard to deal with Khupe directly so a political route will be taken in dealing with her. There's a rally in Masvingo on Saturday, if she dares stand up and address party members, she will suffer greater embarrassment than what happened at Harvest House two weeks ago when she cried after receiving insults from members," an MDC insider said.

Khupe, insiders said, fell out of favour with Tsvangirai for her campaign that the party should contest in the June 10 by-elections in 16 constituencies, 14 left vacant following the expulsion of former MDC-T rebel MPs from Parliament.

Two others were left vacant following the expulsion of Didymus Mutasa and Temba Mliswa from Zanu-PF.

"Khupe's campaign was interpreted as ambition by the VP. She's also accused of leading a campaign to remove Tsvangirai's face from the party logo arguing that the organisation shouldn't be personalised," said a source.

Five seats are vacant in Bulawayo, and Khupe wanted to maintain the party's stranglehold on the province in which the MDC-T won all parliamentary seats.

The decision not to participate in the by-elections, effectively handing over the seats to Zanu-PF, will weaken Khupe in the internal MDC-T power play.

MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu yesterday denied that Tsvangirai had fallen out with Khupe, insisting the party was united.

He said the party had come out of a successful meeting where the two leaders had shown unity of purpose adding that, "the reports of a rift only exist in the imagination of some people."