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Khupe assertions not based on fact

Opinion & Analysis
A truism in politics is that every vote counts and political parties do their utmost to convince people that they deserve their votes.

A truism in politics is that every vote counts and political parties do their utmost to convince people that they deserve their votes.

Comment: NewsDay Editor

MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe
MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe

This is the rationale behind calls for parties to unite ahead of the next elections, as they seek to pool both their votes and resources and this would give them a realistic chance of beating Zanu PF in the next elections.

In this regard, we find MDC-T deputy president, Thokozani Khupe’s outlandish statements that MDC-T does not need an alliance in the three Matabeleland provinces quite disturbing, as the idea is to ensure that a coalition gets every vote that does not go to Zanu PF.

Khupe says her party has won elections all the time in Matabeleland and there is no need for an alliance there, but it would be remiss of us if we do not test the veracity of her claims.

In 2013, President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF won all the 13 contested National Assembly seats in Matabeleland South.

Secondly, in 2008, in the same province, in the first round of voting, independent candidate, Simba Makoni and Mugabe won more votes than MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In Matabeleland North, Zanu PF won six of the 10 contested National Assembly seats, while MDC-T won four, further pouring cold water on Khupe’s assertions.

The Hwange West constituency is one of the examples that emphasises the need for a coalition, as Zanu PF won it with 6 684 of the votes, while MDC-T’s Gift Mabhena had 5 541 and MDC’s Godfrey Dube had 1 401.

Granted, MDC was a distant third, ceteris paribus, if the two parties had an alliance, it is easy to assume the opposition would have polled 6 942 and taken the seat from Zanu PF.

On the other hand, MDC-T won all the seats in Bulawayo and that could be giving Khupe the confidence to say they do not need a coalition in that province, but to extrapolate that to the whole of Matabeleland is misleading and untrue.

Unfortunately, because of the obvious mistruths, Khupe may be viewed as someone, as Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka said, who is against the coalition not for objective but “subjective motivations driven by selfish and personal interests”.

Khupe will now be portrayed as someone eager to protect her fiefdom rather than look at the bigger picture, where all votes count in uprooting this system.

Her assertions on the strength of the party in Matabeleland are not based on fact, but by some thumb suck reasoning.

If she does not want a coalition, then she must say so, rather than hide behind what are known these days as “alternative facts”, a euphemism for falsehoods.