CURRICULUM

VITAE FOR
HON.
THOKOZANI
KHUPE



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PERSONAL DETAILS
Name: Thokozani Khupe
Date of Birth: November 18, 1963
Place of Birth: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Social Status: Single with three grown up children
Home Address: N0. 6 Irene Road, Kenilworth, Bulawayo
Email: thoko63@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +263 772 570 944

Education
Did her primary and secondary education in Bulawayo
Acquired her first Degree in Media Studies, (Bachelor of Arts in
Media Studies), Zimbabwe Open University, 2004
Did her Masters in Business Administration with the National
University of Science and Technology, 2009
Currently a PhD Student with University of Zimbabwe: Research
Topic –
The informal sector and empowerment of women- A case study of
women retail traders in flea markets of Bulawayo



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Political Career
Started as a Trade Unionist and served as the Secretary for
ZCTU Women ‘s Advisory Council
Founder Member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-
T)
Was elected Member of Parliament for Makokoba Constituency in
2000
Was arrested for political activism seven times.
Was brutally beaten on the eve of the MDC-T President
Tsvangira’s treason trial case.
She became the Vice President of the MDC-T in 2006
Stood in as Acting President of the Movement for Democratic
Change in 2007 when President Tsvangirai and other members
were assaulted by the police.
Stood in as Acting President in 2008 when President of the MDC-
T, Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti, Secretary General went in
exile in South Africa and Botswana
She cared for all the people who were beaten up by ZANU-PF for
supporting the MDC-T
During the height of political violence, Hon. Khupe stood with the
brutalized victims of state orchestrated violence and she risked
her own safety attending burials of slain MDC-T activists.

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She was re-elected as the Vice President of MDC-T during the
Congress in April 2011.

Government Work
She is the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of
Zimbabwe having served from the 9th of February 2009 to 22nd
August 2013.
During her time as the DPM, she coordinated 12 Ministries under
the Social and Rights and Interest Clusters as part of the
Government Work Programme.
Social Cluster was comprised of the following Ministries:
- Ministry of Health and Child Welfare
- Ministry of Higher Education
- Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture
- Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community
Development
- Ministry of Youth and Indigenization
- Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare

Rights and Interest Cluster was made up of the following:
- Ministry of Information
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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- Ministry of Justice
- Ministry of Constitutional Affairs
- Organ of National Healing



Former Chairperson of Resource Mobilisation and
Employment Creation in Cabinet

DPM Khupe worked with the World Bank to set up Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The background of
EITI is that Zimbabwe is involved in Blood Diamonds and
therefore making Zimbabwe EITI compliant will ensure that
resources of this country benefit the people of Zimbabwe. At
the present moment, diamonds are only benefiting very few
people from ZANU-PF. Human rights abuses regarding
diamond extraction ought to be addressed. Transparency will
enable government to know how much mineral resource is
being extracted and how it is being sold and ensure proper
accountability of this wealth.

Former Goodwill Ambassador of CARMMA

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 As the Goodwill Ambassador of the Campaign on Accelerated
Reduction of Maternal Mortality, the DPM advocated for the
removal of consultation and user fees for pregnant women.
Government of Zimbabwe complied and as of early this year,
district hospitals have removed user fees. The Health
Transition Fund launched by the Developmental Partners was
a response to the lobbying done by the DPM. The Minister of
Finance was equally persuaded by the DPM to set aside a
budget to assist pregnant women. As the Goodwill
Ambassador, the DPM did hospital refurbishments in all the
major six hospitals in Zimbabwe with support of DFID and
Crowne Agency. She also donated many foodstuffs and
blankets to hospitals and clinics throughout the country.

Former and First President of the GlobalPOWER Women
Network Africa
DPM Khupe was elected the President of GlobalPOWER Women
Network Africa in Washington DC at a conference that was
organized by UNAIDS and the Centre for Women Studies in
September 2010.
The GlobalPOWER Women Network Africa is an UNAIDS-
supported network of African Women who are elected and
appointed representatives at highest decision-making tables.
POWER here is the acronym for “Partnership of Women Elected-
and-appointed Representatives”. It seeks to advance gender
equality and women’s empowerment and promote discussions on
their accelerated action as well as actions on HIV/AIDS and

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Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Africa,
focusing on the vulnerability of girls and young women.

Why ‘GPWNA’ became necessary
The prevailing gender inequalities and gender based-violence
among other structural factors increase women and girls’ risk of
HIV/AIDS, whilst further hindering the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular MDGs 3, 4,
5, and 6. The network seeks to identify and facilitate the
acceleration the implementation of the UNAIDS Agenda for
Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV. The inaugural meeting
established the GlobalPOWER® Women Network Africa, with a
call for Accelerating Action for Women Empowerment and Gender
Equality in the area of HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health
and Rights (SRHR), with the overall aim of “Getting to zero”.

Whilst the GlobalPOWER Africa adopted the UNAIDS call for
“Getting to Zero” to halt the spread of HIV infection and mitigate
the impact of the epidemic on women and girls, living with and
affected by HIV, in support of the 2011 Political Declaration on
HIV/AIDS, it also recognized that progress on HIV and SRHR are
intertwined and mutually reinforcing. In actual fact, the SRHR
agenda is key to achieving the goals set in the Political
Declaration in Africa, in particular the reduction of new HIV
infections by half; access to antiretroviral treatment for 15 million
people by 2015; and elimination of vertical transmission of HIV
and substantial reduction in AIDS-related maternal deaths by
2015, while at the same time, positively impacting on maternal
and child health.

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As such, in 2012, precisely May 24th-25th, the GlobalPOWER
Africa in collaboration with the African Union and UNAIDS hosted
its inaugural High Level Meeting (HLM) in Harare, Zimbabwe,
calling for:
• Zero new HIV infections
• Zero maternal and child mortality
• Zero tolerance to violence against women and girls
• Zero hunger and poverty

The first meeting of GlobalPOWER Africa culminated in the
Harare Call to Action and reaffirmed the Network’s commitment to
accelerate action for key issues related to women and girls in the
continent.

The 2nd GPHLM was held in Abuja on 27-28 June 2013; under
the theme “Accelerating the implementation of the global and
regional commitments for Women and Girls, Gender Equality and
HIV/AIDS in Africa; and the adoption of post-2015 priorities”.



An Advocate for Women’s Economic Empowerment
Hon. Khupe spearheaded the women’s economic development
summits in 2009 which led to women from throughout the country
contributing towards a plan known as the Women’s Economic
Development Plan. The document has since been adopted by
government and non governmental organizations as an approach
towards giving equal opportunities for contributing towards the
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economic growth of this country. Women requested that a
Women’s Bank should be set up to assist women with small
loans. DPM embarked on study tours to the east and within Africa
to understand developmental banking. At the present moment a
business plan for the Women’s Micro Finance Bank was
submitted to the Central Bank for licensing.

A Financial Literacy Module was written to accompany the
Women’s Bank initiative because women need to get educated on
financial planning, spending, investment, borrowing and lending.
We are working on getting funding to publish this module.



The Thokozani Khupe Cancer Foundation
Following her diagnosis of breast cancer and her going public
about it as part of her advocacy on cancer awareness in
Zimbabwe, Hon. Khupe founded the Thokozani Khupe Cancer
Foundation. She advocates for free testing of women and
information dissemination on the cancerous diseases and for
increased Government allocation of resources for cancer
treatment.
Meet the DPM Khupe’s Forum
Hon. Khupe had a forum where she travelled throughout the
country to meet women in business, grassroots level, women

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legislators and from the judiciary to consult and get guidance on
how best to make use of her role as the Deputy Prime Minister to
improve the lives of women in Zimbabwe.

Local and International Forums
Hon. Khupe made presentations at many high level women’s
forums locally and internationally. Some of her presentations
include Convention on the Status of Women in New York, YWCA
in Zurich, International Women’s Conference in South Africa,
International AIDS Conference in Washington, Pan-African
Women’s Conference at African Union in Addis Ababa and the
African Union Women’s Mini Summit in Lilongwe.


Reference:

1. President of MDC-T and Former Prime Minister of the
Republic of Zimbabwe, H.E. Dr. Morgan Richard Tsvangirai
5th Floor, Harvest House, 44 Nelson Mandela Ave / Angwa
Street
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 4 770 708

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 2. National Chairperson of MDC-T and Former Speaker of the
House of Assembly, Hon. Lovemore Ndodana Moyo
5th Floor, Harvest House, 44 Nelson Mandela Ave / Angwa
Street
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 773 011 071 or +263 712 236 843

3. H.E. Dr. Michel Sidibe, Executive Director, UNAIDS Head
Office, Geneva, Switzerland Tel:+41 22 7911056 or +41 79
5002119

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