“I am not a political shark” says Zimbabwe legislator who has represented three different opposition parties in 20 years

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said she had decided to quit politics because she had a torrid time between 2013 and 2018.

“2013-208 had been very traumatic for me, because there were a lot of in-fights within our party to the extent that I resigned. I actually got sick and I had a mental breakdown and I had to go to India for six months for clinical depression because of the kind of abuse that I went through,” she said.

“My time was over. I was going to go away, do some fellowshipping, write my book and start my NGO. I had my ducks in a row. The last place I thought I would be was in Parliament.”

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said that she was forced to help Thokozani Khupe in her presidential bid because they had been friends for a very long time. But more importantly, as a feminist, she felt she had to support a colleague who was being abused simply because she was a woman.

Khupe was the vice-president of the MDC-T from 2006 until the death of party founder and leader Morgan Tsvangirai on 14 February 2018.

She was re-elected vice-president at the party congress in 2014 but Tsvangirai appointed two others, Elias Mudzuri and Nelson Chamisa, in 2016- a move that was later declared illegal by the country’s highest court because the party constitution allowed for only one elected vice-president and said that that vice-president takes over in the event of the death of the party leader.

Chamisa who had just turned 40 on 2 February 2018, barely qualifying to contest as President, declared himself the acting presidency of the party while Tsvangirai was on his death bed in Johannesurg, South Africa. He was endorsed by the national council on 15 February, hours after Tsvangirai’s death, leading to a battle over leadership of the party, which continues to today.

Khupe was humiliated by party supporters at Tsvangirai’s funeral at his rural home in Buhera and was called all sorts of names-including hure (prostitute) before being rescued by the police. She challenged Chamisa’s endorsement but when he refused to step down, she went to court and won the right to the MDC-T name.

It was this abuse, and the fight for her constitutional right that forced Misihairabwi-Mushonga to assist her Khupe in her presidential bid.

“My relationship with Khupe dates back to 2000.  Me and Thokozani were treated as twins at that time. She was my closest friend,” Misihairabwi-Mushonga said.

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