Thokozani Khupe (born 18 November 1963) is a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

an politician, trade unionist and the President of the MDC-T breakaway faction of the

Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to: * Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe ** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congres ...

(MDC). She was Deputy Prime Minister 2009–13. Following the death of party founder

Morgan Tsvangirai Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was President of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic ...

in early 2018 Khupe opposed the ascent of

Nelson Chamisa Nelson Chamisa (born 2 February 1978) is a Zimbabwean politician and the current President of the Citizens Coalition For Change. He served as Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Kuwadzana East, Harare. Chamisa was the MDC Allianc ...

as leader of the MDC-T on the grounds that she was the only one of its three Vice Presidents elected by congress, whereas Chamisa and the third vice president

Elias Mudzuri Elias Mudzuri is a Zimbabwean engineer and politician. Mudzuri was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of Harare, a city of 1.8 million, in March 2002. He was Acting president of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T). Trained in Sierre Leone as ...

had been appointed by Tsvangirai. Khupe was supported by much of the party organization in this, but lost the power struggle to Chamisa; Khupe and her supporters consider their faction the legitimate MDC-T and have continued to use the MDC-T name. They are involved in a court battle with the Chamisa faction over the party name, symbols, logo and trademark; the matter had not been resolved prior to the 2018 general elections and the Khupe faction ran in the elections as the MDC-T while the much bigger Chamisa faction ran as part of the

MDC Alliance The Movement for Democratic Change Alliance was an electoral coalition of seven political parties formed to contest Zimbabwe's 2018 general election. After the 2018 election, a dispute arose over the use of the name MDC Alliance leading the MDC ...

. On 22 April 2018, she was elected unopposed as the President of her MDC-T faction at an extraordinary congress in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

. In 2020 she was removed from the position of party president by Douglas Mwonzora amid strong claims of violence and cheating from her fans.

Education

Born in

, Khupe graduated in 1999 from the Turin Centre in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, Italy, with a certificate in Information Technology. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies from the

Zimbabwe Open University Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) is an open distance education university in Zimbabwe. Established in 1999,National University of Science and Technology, and a PhD in Social Studies from the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...

Trade union politics

She served as an official of the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railway Union (ZARU) in 1987. In 1991 she was elected Secretary of the ZCTU Women's Advisory Council and also became a member of the General Council of the ZCTU. In 1999 she participated in the formation of the

party, in which she was elected as a National Executive member responsible for Transport, Logistics and Welfare.

Political career

In June 2000, Khupe was elected as the Member of Parliament for Makokoba Constituency in

. She was a member of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee; and on Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation Committee and was elected Vice Chairperson of the Women's Parliamentary Caucus and became Parliamentary Deputy Chief Whip of the MDC. She retained the constituency in the March 2005 parliamentary election. She is in the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Defense, Home Affairs and National Security and that of Budget, Finance and Economic Development. In the March 2008 parliamentary election, Khupe ran for re-election in Makokoba constituency as the candidate of the MDC-Tsvangirai faction, defeating

Welshman Ncube Welshman Ncube (born 7 July 1961) is a Zimbabwean lawyer, businessman and politician. He is the founding MDC leader and former President of Zimbabwean political party Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube. He currently serves within the Ci ...

, the Secretary-General of the MDC-Mutambara faction. She received 4,123 votes against 2,475 votes for Ncube. She was for several years an active member of the African Parliamentary Network against Corruption. Khupe was Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 11 February 2009 to August 2013 in the

government of national unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

between the MDC-T and ZANU-PF. She was a Member of Parliament for Makokoba constituency before being recalled by her party in 2018 on the grounds that she no longer represented the party's interests. In 2005 she was elected vice-president of the

(MDC) taking over from veteran trade unionist

Gibson Sibanda Gibson Jama Sibanda (1944 – 24 August 2010) was a Zimbabwean politician and trade unionist. He was a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change and at the time of his death was the Vice-President of the faction of the Movement for Demo ...

. One of her close allies in the Senate of Zimbabwe was Mildred Reason Dube. In March 2022, Khuphe urged Zimbabweans to vote for Chamisa's Citizens Coalition for Change in that month's by-election.

Electoral history

References

External links

* *The official site is http://www.mdc.co.zw, but it may harm visitors' computers with

trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

softwar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khupe, Thokozani 1963 births Living people Citizens Coalition for Change politicians People from Bulawayo Northern Ndebele people Deputy Prime Ministers of Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai politicians Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Open University alumni University of Zimbabwe alumni 21st-century Zimbabwean women politicians 21st-century Zimbabwean politicians Women government ministers of Zimbabwe