Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thokozani Khupe has come out in the open and revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer, a condition that kept her from work for close to three months. Khupe’s illness has been subject to speculation in the media.
The DPM told nursing staff and villagers at St Anne’s Hospital in Brunapeg, Mangwe District in Matabeleland South on Thursday that she has breast cancer.
Breast cancer starts in the tissues of the breast. “I know most of you were told that I am seriously ill.
That was not true,” Khupe said to loud applause. “I was only diagnosed with breast cancer and I had to go for chemotherapy treatment. I am strong as you can see.”
Chemotherapy treatment uses medicine to weaken and destroy cancer cells in the body, including cells at the original cancer site and any cancer cells that may have spread to other parts of the body.
Chemotherapy, often shortened to “chemo,” is a systemic therapy, which means it affects the whole body by going through the bloodstream.
On Thursday Khupe looked fit and strong. She stood up all the time when she was addressing the hospital staff without showing any signs of discomfort.
DPM Khupe said she would undergo surgery in November.
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“At the end of the year I will go for an operation in South Africa. I am a strong believer in God and that the illness will not destroy me,” she said.
She said she would now be seen in public “more often”.
Khupe is a long-time campaigner for women’s health and maternal issues.
This was her first appearance at a public event in three months.
