Opinion / Columnist
The rise and fall of Thokozani Khupe
19 Jul 2016 at 06:26hrs | Views
ONE of MDC-T's three vice presidents, Ms Thokozani Khupe, at the weekend led a handful of women on the streets of Bulawayo beating pots in a self-serving campaign that served nothing but to mark her political demise.
The "beat the pot" march was held 24 hours after MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai announced the appointment of Mr Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri as two additional vice presidents in a move that seriously weakened Ms Khupe's power and influence within the party.
In a clearest indication of her fall- out with Mr Tsvangirai, Ms Khupe and some members of her faction reportedly boycotted last Thursday's meeting of the MDC-T national council which okayed the addition of Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri to the party's presidium.
Party insiders revealed this week that Ms Khupe and her key allies did not attend the meeting claiming they had not been notified of it but word from the corridors of the opposition party is that they had already anticipated the appointment which they are strongly opposed to.
Even in her comment on the developments, Ms Khupe has referred questions back to Mr Tsvangirai, distancing herself from the appointments.
The party spokesperson, Mr Obert Gutu, also a reported Ms Khupe ally, posted a cryptic message on Facebook on Friday indirectly referring to the appointments as a circus.
The faction, at sixes and sevens after the appointments, reportedly met at Ms Khupe's house in Bulawayo on Sunday to map the way forward with insiders saying very soon a tribal card might be thrown to explain the erosion of the "god mother's" seemingly reduced status.
Before the appointments of Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri last Friday, Ms Khupe enjoyed the status of "queen mother" in the MDC-T with political opponents within the opposition party accusing her of abuse of power.
In Bulawayo and Matabeleland at large, Ms Khupe was accused of using her influence to impose candidates from her factions.
She was accused of imposing Dr Gorden Moyo on the Makokoba constituency although with time the two fell out and Dr Moyo left with Mr Tendai Biti to form the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Ms Khupe was also accused of trying to impose National University of Science and Technology (Nust) lecturer Dr Mandla Nyathi in the mayoral race but was thwarted and later reportedly backed Bulawayo deputy mayor Gift Banda as chairman of Bulawayo province.
Mr Tsvangirai, at the influence of the Ms Khupe-led faction, personally vetted delegates to a Bulawayo provincial congress ahead of the party's national congress in 2014 where he was accused of turning away seven districts in support of Mr Matson Hlalo, Mr Banda's opponent in the race for the provincial chairperson's post.
Her faction was also accused of engineering the expulsion of Mr Hlalo from the MDC-T after his court action challenging the election of Mr Banda as provincial chairperson.
However, after Mr Tsvangirai revealed that he suffers from colon cancer last month, Ms Khupe and her faction were accused by fellow party members of making a go at the MDC-T leader's position in a succession war involving a clique linked to Mr Chamisa.
In a tactical move to quell the factional fights and ensure his survival, Mr Tsvangirai made the announcement of two more deputies and in the process seriously compromising Ms Khupe who was accused of using her proximity to her boss to have it her way in the party. The manoeuvres Ms Khupe made as Mr Tsvangirai's sole deputy, insiders say, will be hard to make now that there is Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri, now equals to her and with the power to counter her plots.
The personal relations between Ms Khupe and her two new colleagues is likely to pose another problem having been involved in spats with both Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri in previous factional wars.
In 2007, at a meeting in Bulawayo, Ms Khupe reportedly accused Eng Mudzuri of plotting to overthrow Mr Tsvangirai as leader of the MDC-T which some members attributed to the souring of relations between the former Harare mayor and his boss.
Ms Khupe's faction, in the run up to the party's 2014 congress, also reportedly convinced Mr Tsvangirai that Mr Chamisa who was gunning for the secretary-general's position, was eyeing the MDC-T presidency.
Despite going to the congress with more nominations, Mr Chamisa lost the battle for the SG position to Mr Douglas Mwonzora, a key Ms Khupe ally as her faction reportedly successfully engineered a fall out between the Kuwadzana East legislator and the MDC-T leader.
Mr Tsvangirai, however, kept both Eng Mudzuri and Mr Chamisa in the national executive council until last Friday's appointment of the two to join the presidency.
The history of bad blood against her two new colleagues spells doom for Ms Khupe with a likelihood that they will combine to counter any moves she makes and thereby rendering her virtually powerless.
In the run up to the 2013 elections, Ms Khupe handed her seat to Dr Moyo opting to enter parliament through the proportional representation ticket and on the assumption that her power would still be retained in her status of being the only deputy to Mr Tsvangirai.
However, with Friday's development, the ceding of Makokoba constituency will haunt Ms Khupe as she is now literally suspended at the presidium of the party with limited powers and no base as she doesn't have a constituency anymore.
And like this paper reported last week, MDC-T insiders confirmed that the "beat the pots" demo was a self-serving campaign, saying the composition of the march all but proved that as Ms Khupe cut a lone figure after senior leadership from the party within Bulawayo did not join her in the march.
They confided to this paper that "beat the pots" was a vehicle by Ms Khupe and her faction to try and gain popularity among members in a bid to push Mr Tsvangirai from the leadership of the party, a move the MDC-T leader reportedly thwarted by appointing Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri.
The writing is on the wall for Ms Khupe. It is under the above scenarios that the irritating sounds of empty pots, beaten by a handful of women led by Ms Khupe that Bulawayo woke up to on Saturday, should be appreciated.
The irritating sound represented her chaotic legacy in the ranks of the MDC-T intra-politics, the irritation in the national politics where she hardly made a mark and the dying sound of the pots as the women approached the outskirts of the city was synonymous with Ms Khupe's journey into oblivion – isolated and powerless.
The "beat the pot" march was held 24 hours after MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai announced the appointment of Mr Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri as two additional vice presidents in a move that seriously weakened Ms Khupe's power and influence within the party.
In a clearest indication of her fall- out with Mr Tsvangirai, Ms Khupe and some members of her faction reportedly boycotted last Thursday's meeting of the MDC-T national council which okayed the addition of Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri to the party's presidium.
Party insiders revealed this week that Ms Khupe and her key allies did not attend the meeting claiming they had not been notified of it but word from the corridors of the opposition party is that they had already anticipated the appointment which they are strongly opposed to.
Even in her comment on the developments, Ms Khupe has referred questions back to Mr Tsvangirai, distancing herself from the appointments.
The party spokesperson, Mr Obert Gutu, also a reported Ms Khupe ally, posted a cryptic message on Facebook on Friday indirectly referring to the appointments as a circus.
The faction, at sixes and sevens after the appointments, reportedly met at Ms Khupe's house in Bulawayo on Sunday to map the way forward with insiders saying very soon a tribal card might be thrown to explain the erosion of the "god mother's" seemingly reduced status.
Before the appointments of Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri last Friday, Ms Khupe enjoyed the status of "queen mother" in the MDC-T with political opponents within the opposition party accusing her of abuse of power.
In Bulawayo and Matabeleland at large, Ms Khupe was accused of using her influence to impose candidates from her factions.
She was accused of imposing Dr Gorden Moyo on the Makokoba constituency although with time the two fell out and Dr Moyo left with Mr Tendai Biti to form the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Ms Khupe was also accused of trying to impose National University of Science and Technology (Nust) lecturer Dr Mandla Nyathi in the mayoral race but was thwarted and later reportedly backed Bulawayo deputy mayor Gift Banda as chairman of Bulawayo province.
Mr Tsvangirai, at the influence of the Ms Khupe-led faction, personally vetted delegates to a Bulawayo provincial congress ahead of the party's national congress in 2014 where he was accused of turning away seven districts in support of Mr Matson Hlalo, Mr Banda's opponent in the race for the provincial chairperson's post.
Her faction was also accused of engineering the expulsion of Mr Hlalo from the MDC-T after his court action challenging the election of Mr Banda as provincial chairperson.
However, after Mr Tsvangirai revealed that he suffers from colon cancer last month, Ms Khupe and her faction were accused by fellow party members of making a go at the MDC-T leader's position in a succession war involving a clique linked to Mr Chamisa.
In a tactical move to quell the factional fights and ensure his survival, Mr Tsvangirai made the announcement of two more deputies and in the process seriously compromising Ms Khupe who was accused of using her proximity to her boss to have it her way in the party. The manoeuvres Ms Khupe made as Mr Tsvangirai's sole deputy, insiders say, will be hard to make now that there is Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri, now equals to her and with the power to counter her plots.
The personal relations between Ms Khupe and her two new colleagues is likely to pose another problem having been involved in spats with both Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri in previous factional wars.
In 2007, at a meeting in Bulawayo, Ms Khupe reportedly accused Eng Mudzuri of plotting to overthrow Mr Tsvangirai as leader of the MDC-T which some members attributed to the souring of relations between the former Harare mayor and his boss.
Ms Khupe's faction, in the run up to the party's 2014 congress, also reportedly convinced Mr Tsvangirai that Mr Chamisa who was gunning for the secretary-general's position, was eyeing the MDC-T presidency.
Despite going to the congress with more nominations, Mr Chamisa lost the battle for the SG position to Mr Douglas Mwonzora, a key Ms Khupe ally as her faction reportedly successfully engineered a fall out between the Kuwadzana East legislator and the MDC-T leader.
Mr Tsvangirai, however, kept both Eng Mudzuri and Mr Chamisa in the national executive council until last Friday's appointment of the two to join the presidency.
The history of bad blood against her two new colleagues spells doom for Ms Khupe with a likelihood that they will combine to counter any moves she makes and thereby rendering her virtually powerless.
In the run up to the 2013 elections, Ms Khupe handed her seat to Dr Moyo opting to enter parliament through the proportional representation ticket and on the assumption that her power would still be retained in her status of being the only deputy to Mr Tsvangirai.
However, with Friday's development, the ceding of Makokoba constituency will haunt Ms Khupe as she is now literally suspended at the presidium of the party with limited powers and no base as she doesn't have a constituency anymore.
And like this paper reported last week, MDC-T insiders confirmed that the "beat the pots" demo was a self-serving campaign, saying the composition of the march all but proved that as Ms Khupe cut a lone figure after senior leadership from the party within Bulawayo did not join her in the march.
They confided to this paper that "beat the pots" was a vehicle by Ms Khupe and her faction to try and gain popularity among members in a bid to push Mr Tsvangirai from the leadership of the party, a move the MDC-T leader reportedly thwarted by appointing Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri.
The writing is on the wall for Ms Khupe. It is under the above scenarios that the irritating sounds of empty pots, beaten by a handful of women led by Ms Khupe that Bulawayo woke up to on Saturday, should be appreciated.
The irritating sound represented her chaotic legacy in the ranks of the MDC-T intra-politics, the irritation in the national politics where she hardly made a mark and the dying sound of the pots as the women approached the outskirts of the city was synonymous with Ms Khupe's journey into oblivion – isolated and powerless.
Source - chronicle
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