MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai under immense pressure to expel Senator Matson Hlalo has been pulled into a private ‘bedroom‘ corner by his vice Thokozani Khupe.
Khupe has allegedly ordered (the reputation survivor)Tsvangriai saying she will reveal his dirty past if he does not oust the Senator.
By Cleopas Ndlovu| Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) is at cross roads as he is failing to stamp authority on the faction led by his Vice President, Thokozani Khupe. For close to a decade,Khupe has been at the centre of problems rocking MDC-T.
In 2011 she was implicated in a post-Bulawayo Provincial congress as the main actor in influencing violence.
In 2015 Tsvangirai commissioned the Arbiter General to investigate the main cause of problems in Bulawayo party structures. Once again, the report went on to implicate Khupe. The two reports were swept under the carpet as Tsvangirai clearly fears Khupe for reasons better known by him.
Recently, Tsvangirai met party structures in Bulawayo and Harare. Like Bulawayo, Harare is affected by factionalism.
Bulawayo is burning with no signs for an end. Insiders report that last week a meeting was held in Bulawayo by Khupe, Secretary General, Douglas Mwonzora, Organising Secretary Abednigo Bhebhe, Gift Banda and Nomvula Mguni where all threatened to scandalise Tsvangirai by exposing his private life to the press if he failed to expel popular Senator Matson Hlalo.
Tsvangirai was told to explicitly put his terms and agreement with the Khupe faction on paper, but he refused to commit himself to writing. Instead, he opted to call for a National Executive meeting and National Council meeting where he intended to expel Senator Hlalo. To Khupe and Mwonzora’s shame the National Council did not deliberate on Hlalo’s fate in the party
To make matters worse yesterday Douglas Mwonzora acted on the word of Khupe to expel Senator Matson Hlalo. Insiders said letters have been sent to Hlalo, that purport to recall him from the Senate and expel him from the party. This is against the recommendations of the party’s National Executive Committee that both Hlalo and Banda be appointed to the party’s National Executive in order to solve the dispute amicably. Mwonzora is clearly serving factional interests in the MDC-T rather than being a neutral Secretary General. He disobeys Tsvangirai willy nilly. To make matters worse Tsvangirai is taking time to act and save the party from saboteurs in the Khupe faction.
The Khupe faction’s grand plan was to use Tsvangirai’s voice to silence those who would come out to defend Senator Hlalo.
This strategy is based on the assumption that most MDC cadres fear to oppose Tsvangirai as they will be branded “sell outs,” a term borrowed from the Zanu pf political dictionary, where whoever opposes Mugabe’s miscalculation is viewed as an enemy of the state. Fourth and fifth of February were days for the scheduled meetings where Tsvangirai was to be used to expel Senator Matson Hlalo. Tsvangirai would be expected to comply as he fears for the exposure of his private life.
In the meantime, it is claimed that donors are dangling money in the Khupe faction’s face asking them to put in place parallel structures. The parallel structures, it is claimed by Khupe’s followers, will be used in the grand plot to depose Tsvangirai in 2017. It is also claimed that the anti-Tsvangirai structures will be used to pass a Zanu PF style vote of no confidence in Tsvangirai.
A close source in the Khupe faction informed the paper that they will first boo Tsvangirai if he addresses party members in Bulawayo and then thereafter declare Matebeleland a no-go-area. It is said that they will then move to other areas.
Khupe is reported to have travelled to South Africa to source funds for her bootlickers who are expected to use violence to silence Hlalo’s  defenders.
Contacted for a comment, Khupe did not reply to messages and questions sent her.