We’re not safe, says Mugabe

ZIMBABWE: Robert Mugabe says his wife Grace has cried every day since he was forced from power, because their enemies are seeking to strip her of the PhD she was awarded by the University of Zimbabwe.

The former president voiced his complaint to Moussa Faki Mahamat, the African Union commission chairman, when he visited their mansion in Harare last week, according to the

newspaper. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who assumed the presidency in a soft coup last November, has vowed not to prosecute Mugabe for crimes committed during his 30-year dictatorship, and has given him a retirement package. However, Mugabe claimed he was living on borrowed time under an illegitimate government.

‘‘They told you I was safe, but how can I be in this environment?’’ he asked Mahamat. ‘‘My wife is crying daily. They are persecuting her. What am I without my wife and family? We are not safe.’’

Mugabe said his wife’s PhD was hard-won. ‘‘I used to see her here working hard day and night,’’ he said. ‘‘I would assist her here and there, so how can someone wake up and claim she didn’t work for it? This is harassment.’’

Academics ridiculed Grace Mugabe’s 226-page PhD thesis, after it was published belatedly by the university last month. They claimed it had been completed unfeasibly quickly – within two months - parroted other texts and added nothing new. The country’s anti-corruption committee ordered the arrest of the university’s vicechancellor this month over allegations of abuse of office, and said it was investigating the lecturer who supervised Grace Mugabe’s thesis.