Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, has expressed hope she was winning her battle against the disease as the lump which had developed in her breast had vanished.
Khupe told journalists in Bulawayo on Saturday the 7,5cm lump had disappeared following chemotherapy treatment in South Africa. However, she said she still needed to undergo surgery to complete the treatment programme.
“I am winning the battle against cancer although I still have to undergo an operation,” said Khupe, a known champion of women’s health rights.
Two months ago, the DPM revealed she was fighting breast cancer, but declined she was seriously ill.
Khupe looks well, but she has moved from her short hair to a bald head as the disease was causing her hair to fall off.
Khupe’s statements came at a time there were calls for government to strengthen the country’s cancer-support systems to ensure patients gain access to affordable treatment.
Keep Reading
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
On Friday, Zimbabwe was abuzz with unconfirmed reports that Vice-President John Nkomo had succumbed to prostate cancer in South Africa.
Nkomo returned from South Africa on Saturday afternoon.
Lands and Resettlement minister Herbert Murerwa is also reportedly at a private South African hospital where he is receiving treatment for cancer of the colon.
Prominent musician Tongai Moyo has been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, another type of cancer.
Khupe supervises government’s social cluster and is at the forefront of a project to raise $2 million to equip all central hospitals with state-of-the-art machinery to mitigate maternal mortality.