Mugabe gives sister-in-law RM257,000 gift

Harare: Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe lavished his sisterin-law with US$60,000 (RM257,000) on her birthday at a time when the country is critically short of cash.

The Herald newspaper reported that Mugabe, 93, and his wife Grace gave Junior Gumbochuma the money during her 60th birthday celebration. The couple’s children gave her US$10,000 (RM42,825).

“The gift was to thank Mrs Gumbochuma, a pastor, for the pivotal role she played in raising the First Family’s children,” the newspaper said.

Gumbochuma is Grace’s elder sister.

Zimbabwe’s economy has been on a downturn for over a decade with many banks running out of cash, forcing people to queue for hours to make withdrawals often limited to only US$20 (RM85) a day.

Zimbabwe’s public salary wage Bill uses up 91% of total revenue and the economy has halved in size since 2000.