By Paul Nyathi| Rival MDC-T leaders Nelson Chamisa and Thokozani Khuphe will next weekend test each other’s strength in the politically volatile City of Bulawayo.

The two leaders of the split party will hold high profile public gatherings within 10 kilometres of each other on the 7th of April as they both seek to claim dominance in the city.

While Chamisa will be having a probably full house rally at White City Stadium in the heart of the City’s high density suburb, Khuphe will be holding her own MDC-T special congress at the heart of Bulawayo’s political home Stanley Square in Makokoba Bulawayo’s oldest location.

The two gatherings, as ZimEye.com reveals, are set to finally declare the who is who of the two MDC-T factions in the city and the Matabeleland region.

Sources close to Khuphe indicate that she has managed to bring on her side a higher majority of the MDC-T leadership in the Bulawayo and Matabeleland North Provinces while Chamisa has retained Matabeleland South in the fight for Matabeleland region dominance.

Police in Bulawayo confirmed that the two political rivals have been cleared to hold their events within the short distance between the venues. This is despite a known very violent rivalry between supporters of the two factions.

Efforts to get a comment from spokespersons of the two factions in the city were not successful at the time of writing.

Khuphe declared herself the genuine leader of the MDC-T following the death of founding President Morgan Tsvangirai while Chamisa was endorsed by the party’s National Council.

ZimEye.com is following the events as they unfold.