Vote for Welshman Ncube a waste, says Khuphe

MDC-T deputy president Thokozani Khupe has said that a vote for the MDC will go to waste because they will never win power, MDC-T deputy president Thokozani Khuphe said on Monday.

Khuphe is criss-crossing the Matabeleland South region - where Ncube's MDC won seven of the 10 parliamentary seats - hoping to boost the MDC-T's electoral chances ahead of the July 31 general elections.

Warning against voting for Ncube's MDC, which won 10 parliamentary seats in total, she said: "Independents will never form a government; you [voters] will harvest nothing. They cannot bring development in isolation.

"Malandu [Ncube / current MP], Welshman [Ncube] and Dumiso [Dabengwa / ZAPU leader] will never form a government, so a vote for them is like a seed that falls on rocky ground or in the weed."

Khuphe was forced to deal with a drunken heckler who shouted that he would vote for the independent, Dube. The man was led away by some in the crowd after a brief exchange with the MDC-T number two.

The MDC-T is facing problems in Insiza South where Khupe staged several rallies on Monday drumming up support for the party's House of Assembly candidate, Nkululeko Sibanda.

Sibanda was not the party's first choice - he came a distant second in a primary election to Jabulani Mahewu Dube, who died suddenly two days later.

Khupe warned all party members running as independents that they had expelled themselves, and those supporting them also risked being kicked out of the party.

Meanwhile, Ncube's son, Wesley - who married South African President Jacob Zuma's daughter, Gugulethu - has been campaigning for his father on the social networks.