Wife held by rebels she wanted to crush
ZIMBABWEAN tyrant Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace is being held in secret detention facilities by the rebels she had threatened to ‘crush’, it was revealed last night.
Grace Mugabe’s whereabouts had been shrouded in mystery since the coup – from reports that she had fled to neighbouring Namibia, to claims she had been living with her husband.
But Grace was taken away not long after her husband’s generals wrested power from him. Since then, she has been held alone at detention facilities at military bases dotted around the country – torture centres created by her husband to enable his feared state security to ‘disappear’ people.
Grace, 52, who Mugabe married in 1996 after spotting her in a government typing pool while his first wife Sally had terminal cancer, is being moved by the military every two days. This is to ensure that rumours do not spread about where she is being held, preventing any Mugabe loyalists from trying to free her – as well as ensuring that there is no rallying point for any supporters.
‘She was a bad influence on Mugabe while he was in power, and was a bad influence on him when we tried to negotiate a deal with him to stand down,’ one military official told the Mail last night. ‘She was taken away both to prevent them colluding and conspiring, and to isolate her husband further.’
The official added: ‘It’s best she is taken out of the picture and forgotten about for now – we will decide what to do with her later.
‘She is a very rich lady and at some point we will want to find out all about how she made that money.’
Dubbed ‘Gucci’ Grace because of her lavish spending sprees while her countrymen starved, she has been removed from her post as head of the Zanu-PF Women’s League ‘for ever’ and expelled from the party itself.
Three cabinet members who had formed the backbone of her G40 political faction have also been expelled, and reports have begun circulating that they will be prosecuted.
It is unclear whether Grace will also be prosecuted, and it is understood that Mugabe demanded guarantees over her safety in his negotiations with the military.
It was also reported that the tyrant is trying to ensure the safety of his two sons with Grace, Chatunga and Robert Jr, both of whom are currently living in South Africa.