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Ms Thokozani Khupe

Zvamaida Murwira, Harare Bureau
MDC-T Vice-President Dr Thokozani Khupe and chairperson Mr Lovemore Moyo face expulsion from the party after the Standing Committee gave them an ultimatum to attend its next meeting.

The opposition held a Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday that was chaired by party acting president Engineer Elias Mudzuri where they gave the ultimatum for the two to show cause why the party should not invoke the provision of the party’s constitution to deal with their “errant behaviour”.

The objective of the high-level meeting was to review the state of the party in light of pending general elections later this year.

Sources who attended the Wednesday meeting said people took turns to berate the continued absence of Dr Khupe and Mr Moyo from meetings. It was eventually resolved, according to sources, to take decisive action against the duo should they fail to attend another meeting set for next week.

“There are provisions in the party’s constitution that should be adhered to. Any deviation from compliance of such provisions will result in the invocation of the relevant clauses to bring errant members to book. Just like parliament attendances if you fail to attend sittings for a certain number of occasions you risk losing your seat. Why should these people be an exception?” asked one member of the standing committee.

“The two are fast exhausting allowable threshold of number of meetings that they can fail to attend and get away with it.

“We have since resolved to give them an ultimatum and watch the space on what will visit them next week should they fail to attend.”

Another source said the standing committee noted that the two stopped attending soon after discussions of alliance with other parties began during mid-last year, an indication that they were opposed to such discussions.

“Infact with respect to Mr Moyo, he last attended in May last year. He has to come clean as to whether he is still a member of the MDC-T. We least expect that behaviour with respect to Dr Khupe given her seniority,” said the source.

Contacted for comment, MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu played down the absence of Dr Khupe and Mr Moyo.

“The two submitted apologies. Dr Khupe had other engagements and could not attend,” said Mr Gutu.

Sources said the Wednesday meeting saw crucial deliberations that had been set for that day being shelved to allow discussions on the pair’s continued absence.