Majority 8,450 (50.8%) | Preceded by Position established Name Thokozani Khuphe | |
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Office Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe since 2009 | ||
Thokozani Khuphe (born 18 November 1963) is a Zimbabwean politician and the Vice-President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). She was Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 11 February 2009 to August 2013. She is a senior Member of Parliament for Makokoba constituency.
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In 2005 she was elected Vice-President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) taking over from veteran trade unionist Gibson Sibanda. She is a third term Member of Parliament for Makokoba constituency.
Born in Bulawayo, Khupe graduated from Turin College, Italy in Information Technology and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies.
Trade union politics
She served in the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railway Union (ZARU) in 1987. In 1991 she was elected Secretary for the ZCTU Women's Advisory Council and also a General Council member of the ZCTU. In 1999 she participated in the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change party, in which she was elected as a National Executive member responsible for Transport, Logistics and Welfare. In June 2000, she was elected as the Member of Parliament for Makokoba Constituency in Bulawayo.
Parliamentary career
She was a member of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee; and on Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation Committee and was elected Vice Chairperson of the Women's Parliamentary Caucus. She is the Parliamentary Deputy Chief Whip of the MDC Party. She sits in the Standing Rules and Orders Committee. She retained the constituency in the March 2005 parliamentary election. She is in the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Defense, Home Affairs and National Security and that of Budget, Finance and Economic Development.
In the March 2008 parliamentary election, Khuphe ran for re-election in Makokoba constituency as the candidate of the MDC-Tsvangirai faction, defeating Welshman Ncube, the Secretary-General of the MDC-Mutambara faction. She received 4,123 votes against 2,475 votes for Ncube.
She is a member of the African Parliamentary Network against Corruption.