MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe last night refused to comment on the turmoil engulfing the party’s Bulawayo structures where she was accused of being childish for disrupting a meeting. Nqobile Bhebhe Chief Reporter
Khupe on Saturday blocked the suspension of provincial chairperson Gorden Moyo at the last minute after turning a meeting convened to push out the Makokoba MP into a mobilisation workshop.
The divisions in the MDC-T were laid bare on Tuesday after party leader Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to disassociate himself from claims by provincial secretary Albert Mhlanga that he had given them the nod to ditch Moyo.
Mhlanga had travelled to Harare to meet Tsvangirai on the matter where he emerged confident that Moyo’s expulsion would be finalised by tomorrow. The MDC-T leader came short of calling Mhlanga a liar the following day and said he could not be seen contradicting Khupe. The former deputy prime minister yesterday attended a Bulawayo full city council meeting and in an interview with journalists afterwards she refused to talk about MDC-T.
“I am not the party spokesperson,” she said. “Talk to (Douglas) Mwonzora or Mandla (Nyathi).”
As Khupe attended the meeting, copies of a letter by “expelled”
MDC-T deputy treasurer Elton Mangoma were being thrown outside council chambers.
Meanwhile, Khupe said she had taken advantage of the National Assembly recess to attend the full council meeting. MDC-T controls Bulawayo as it won all the 29 wards.
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“Parliament was not seating today (yesterday) and that gave me the opportunity to attend the council meeting,” she said.
“Councillors raised pertinent issues such as road maintenance which need to be taken up with Parliament. The issue of Zinara (Zimbabwe National Roads Authority) needs attention.”
However, her presence seemed to have taken a toll on councillors who were uncharacteristically “timid” in the initial stages of the meeting as the contributions were well measured.
