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Victor Maphosa, Harare Bureau

MDC-T leader, Dr Thokozani Khupe, yesterday condemned the rowdy behaviour of MDC Alliance supporters after they jeered her during the burial procession of the late Vimbai Tsvangirai-Java who was buried in Harare yesterday.

This was after the director of ceremonies acknowledged the presence of Dr Khupe at Glen Forest Memorial Park where the body of Mrs Tsvangirai-Java was being laid to rest.

The acknowledgement did not go well with MDC supporters with some calling for Dr Khupe to leave the place. The incident was a strong reminder of the violent incident last year where thugs attacked Dr Khupe and others at the burial of MDC founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, at Humanikwa Village in Buhera, threatening to burn her alive in a hut.

The violent goons are believed to be fanatics of current party leader, Mr Nelson Chamisa.

Speaking on the sidelines of the burial ceremony, Dr Khupe condemned the behaviour and called on MDC-A supporters to stop politicising funerals.

“As you can see today is a sad moment for all of us where we have come to mourn the passing on of Honourable Vimbai and also to celebrate her life. She was our founding president’s daughter and we had lived with her all our lives.

“But when people come to mourn, they must mourn. This culture of coming to funerals to hijack and turn them into political rallies must come to an end, and I mean this culture must come to a stop. It is unacceptable, it is uncultured, it is not Zimbabwean and I have never seen that,” she said.

“We have opportunities to go out there and do rallies, but to do that here is unacceptable, I have never seen such. Even the one who has departed, I don’t think she is happy, if they can indeed see I don’t think they are happy with what they see here today. When people come to funerals, they must do exactly what they have gone there for, I hope and trust that these people will learn and change their behaviour especially when we come to funerals, people should also respect the dead”. 

Dr Khupe also spoke about the ongoing national political dialogue where she said the initiative is good for the people of Zimbabwe.

“When we are in dialogue, we are doing it for Zimbabweans, we are saying we want things to change but we cannot change things by going out there throwing stones, by burning tyres, by destroying people’s shops but we only resolve issues by discussing issues and this is what some of us are doing.