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. Said Hwende:
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.
Mukoyi rose to prominence in the original MDC as a foot soldier when it was being led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai and also had been campaigning for Chamisa since 2003 in Kuwadzana constituency after the death of the then party’s spokesperson Learnmore Jongwe who was the constituency’s MP.
He reportedly became disillusioned with Chamisa after he was “betrayed” by the latter ahead of the 2018 general elections when he was promised that he would run for MP in Kuwadzana where he grew up.
However, Mukoyi was forced out of the race, with Hwende, a close Chamisa ally, nominated to represent the MDC Alliance in the elections.