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Ms Thokozani Khupe

Nduduzo Tshuma, Political Editor
KNIVES are out for one of the MDC-T vice presidents, Ms Thokozani Khupe, with calls for her censure and possible sacking for contradicting party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai on forming coalitions with other parties.

Sources within the party claim that a clique linked to MDC-T vice president Mr Nelson Chamisa wants to pressure Mr Tsvangirai to descend on Ms Khupe for her recent statement contradicting her boss over forming a coalition with other parties ahead of the 2018 elections.

Ms Khupe was quoted in the private media last week saying a coalition would make sense in other parts of the country than in Matabeleland.

This was after Mr Tsvangirai concluded a tour of Matabeleland where he was, among other things, consulting structures on the issue of forming a coalition with other parties and indicated that they could be forming alliances with the Professor Welshman Ncube-led MDC and the Zimbabwe People First party.

Mr Tsvangirai at the weekend rebuked Ms Khupe for seeking to pursue personal interests at the expense of the bigger picture.

Ms Khupe feels the coalition would further render her irrelevant after Mr Tsvangirai diluted her influence by appointing two more deputies in Mr Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri.

Sources said the embattled VP wants to protect the Matabeleland region which she considers her source of influence.

MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu last night dismissed the reports of a plan to elbow out Ms Khupe describing them as bar talk.

“We are a very happy party and on several occasions I have made it clear that the president is the one who handles issues of coalitions. We are a party of democracy, happiness and order. President Tsvangirai in the fullness of time will make a grand announcement around the issue of a coalition,” said Mr Gutu.

“I don’t dignify rumours or bar talk, people drink Musombodiya or bronco and say what they want but I won’t comment on that.”

However, insiders insisted that a plot was thickening to get Ms Khupe censured or totally expelled from the party.

The insiders revealed that Ms Khupe’s political opponents wanted to take advantage of the widening rift between her and Mr Tsvangirai which started when the MDC-T leader appointed Mr Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri as additional vice presidents. “The contradictions over a coalition have served to further sour relations between Khupe and Tsvangirai so the other grouping wants to take advantage of that and pressure him to act decisively on her,” said the source.

“Their wish is that Khupe is heavily censured or even expelled from the party.”

Meanwhile, a clique aligned to Ms Khupe indicated that when pressured, the former Deputy Prime Minister could leave the party and ostensibly take with her the “Matabeleland vote.”

However, insiders said Ms Khupe does not enjoy the same popularity of the past and walking away would not only play to the hands of her opponents but end her political career.

“She has no support anymore, some of her prominent lieutenants are now double dipping and dining with the Chamisa grouping. At this moment she needs the party more than it needs her,’ said a source.