Khumalo downplays Tsvangirai sacking

The MDC-T party's former deputy spokesperson, who was last week demoted from her powerful posting, Thabitha Khumalo, has shrugged off her removal saying it is not a demotion but rather part of a restructuring exercise.

Khumalo was sacked from the post in what is largely reported as a clean up exercise to annihilate factionalism in the party.

But the legislator claims that the development is not adverse.

"My understanding is that the party is restructuring ahead of the elections so my removal from that position is part of that," she told the Voice f America's Studio 7.

Sources on Tuesday said Khumalo had a fall-out with the party leadership over a raft of complaints ranging from her leadership of a faction of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions to the factionalism in the party in Bulawayo.

On the issue of her dalliance with the labor body she said: "I was elected in absentia and my party understands that."

Khumalo told Studio 7 the letter relieving her of her duties did not indicate that the leadership was not happy with her, adding she was being reassigned to a position not yet disclosed.

"It is not true that I have a misunderstanding with my party because I am waiting to be deployed," she said.

But independent reports claim that senior members of the party have accused the Hon Thabitha of masterminding defections of party members to the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube.

"This is despite the fact that she is not a resident of Makokoba where defections have been the order of the day. Nor is she is a resident or Member of Parliament for the area," said another source who asked not to be named.

"Thabitha is not a member of Mpopoma Constituency as well. So how can people suspect her to be involved in causing party members to defect?"

Khumalo is also noted for statements that sparked nationwide fury as she began to advice parliament to legalise prostitution saying the prostitutes should be renamed "pleasure managers" instead of the former. Last year, ZimEye also revealed that Tsvangirai attempted to block her from travelling to the United Kingdom before a Tsvangirai-rival Stanford Biti and brother of Finance Minister Tendai Biti, put up a media stunt to claim she was travelling to the UK to collect an ambulance donated to her constituency.