'Chamisa sent thugs to kill me'

MDC-T co-deputy president Dr Thokozani Khupe said yesterday that the party's acting president Advocate Nelson Chamisa sent thugs to kill her during the burial of MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Buhera on Tuesday.

The violence in the opposition party, has seen the party's national spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu quitting MDC-T saying he can longer be part of a violent organisation.

In a video which has gone viral on social media, Dr Khupe narrated how she was brutalised on her arrival at Tsvangirai's homestead in Buhera prior to the burial of their leader.

Tsvangirai died on February 14 at a hospital in South Africa after battling with cancer of the colon since 2016.

Dr Khupe said Adv Chamisa's emissaries attacked her accusing her of being a stumbling block to his ascendance to power."When we arrived in Buhera for the burial, we decided to go and see Tsvangirai's mother just to let her know of our presence. We were however approached by 10 youths before we could do that  and they started attacking us. They were later joined by others who were saying Khupe you should go back to Matabeleland we want to kill you," said Dr Khupe.

"They wanted to kill me, one villager tried to rescue us by letting us hide in his thatched hut and when we were in the hut, they started throwing stones at us. They even tried to set the hut on fire but because it was raining, the thatch could not catch fire and the hut was filled with smoke."

She said: "They were swearing saying 'today you are going to die in this hut. We no longer want you because you're blocking the ascendance of our person. They were saying Chamisa, Chamisa, Chamisa."

Dr Khupe vowed to fight until her party returns to constitutionalism as she declared that Adv Chamisa was fraudulently made the party's acting president.

She said she was putting to an end the view that a person from Matabeleland region and a woman cannot lead the MDC-T.

"What even pains me is that when the president died on February 14, 12 hours later they held a bogus meeting called the national council and the national executive in order for Chamisa to proclaim himself the party's acting president. They know that there is a constitution, what kind of people are they who do not respect death," she said.

"I've realised that they disrespect me because I'm from Matabeleland and I'm a woman. I want to tell them right here that this view that a woman and a person from Matabeleland cannot be a president in the MDC-T, is coming to an end.

"I want to show them that people from Matabeleland can be presidents, when Mr Tsvangirai was not around in 2008, I single handedly ran the party after they had all escaped."

Dr Khupe said she was always opposed to the appointment of Adv Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri as the party's co-deputy presidents.

"I want the whole nation to know that I don't recognise Chamisa as the party's acting president. I even told the president (Tsvangirai) when he appointed him that I would not recognise him as a vice president because we don't have a constitution that allows for the appointment of vice presidents. He is now sending thugs to come and assault and kill me. That will never happen," she said.

Adv Chamisa through micro blogging site Twitter however seemed to distance himself from rowdy youths that attacked Dr Khupe calling on members of the public to present footage that will nail Dr Khupe's attackers.

"Completely unacceptable threats of violence against VP Khupe. Please share videos and pictures to help us identify culprits. The police must apprehend and charge those responsible. We will never accept as comrades those who perpetrate violence in our name," tweeted Adv Chamisa.