In an unusual political move for the name he carries, Vincent Tsvangirai the son of the late MDC founder and leader Morgan Tsvangirai has chosen to associate with his father’s political enemies and joined the Thokozani Khupe camp. The youthful legislator has showed all signs of being the opposite of Morgan Tsvangirai despite having his blood and surname.
Reports indicate that Khupe spent 8 months without attending party meetings until the death of Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai is also believed to have unconstitutionally appointed Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri to neutralise Khupe’s powers and to pave way for a different successor from Khupe.
Earlier this year Vincent Tsvangirai sided with Zanu PF on sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and the European Union. Vincent said, “My fear is that it (Patriotic Act) may sound good to put an act like that, for one, I am a patriotic person who believes that sanctions do hurt ordinary persons but at the same time making an act like that I believe sometimes you may end up opening citizens to further harm.”
The statement was not well received in the party hierarchy. Secretary general Chalton Hwende wrote a letter to Tsvangirai asking him to withdraw his statement or face suspension from the party. Tsvangirai did not waste time and he made a video responding to the letter from his party, “I wish to set the record straight considering that I have been misconstrued and misquoted,” he said.
Tsvangirai has since defected to the Khupe Mwonzora MDC-T after the Supreme Court ruling. He left a popular leader Nelson Chamisa, who won received 2,1m votes for Khupe who received 45,000 votes. He defied the MDC Alliance party directive to disengage from parliament. He attended all parliamentary sessions since the directive.
His miscalculated move is most likely going to end his budding political career. Tsvangirai won the Glen View by elections after the death of his sister Vimbai Tsvangirai Java. Being a son of the late Morgan and Susan Tsvangirai, Vincent was seen as someone with Tsvangirai’s leadership qualities but he seems to have ended his political career by the choice he has made.
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