Own Correspondent

MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende said there was nothing unusual about MDC Vanguard leader Shakespeare Mukoyi’s defection to the Thokozani Khupe camp saying it is his right to join any political party of his choice.

Hwende made the remarks after Mukoyi was paraded by Khupe as the MDC-T interim youth assembly leader when the party held its inaugural national standing committee meeting at Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House in Harare on Monday.

Hwende said Mukoyi had not made a formal announcement but had been spotted making public appearances with Dr Khupe.

Hwende said the party wished Mukoyi well in his endeavours and political path. “The MDC is a democratic movement. People leave and people join the party on a daily basis. People are always free to go out and seek political fortunes elsewhere. However, those who want to continue fighting for a free and democratic Zimbabwe are with Advocate Chamisa. We also understand that a few of our former colleagues have elected to join the Zanu PF and they are associating with Thokozani Khupe and Douglas Mwonzora, so we wish him well in his political endeavours,” said Hwende.

He said following the departure of a number of party leaders, the party had embarked on an online recruitment campaign which, he claimed, saw their online platform “crashing due to oversubscription.”

Source: State Media