Another Mugabe grabs national attention
Pugnacious and proud, a politician named Mugabe is making waves in Zimbabwe.
Not Robert, the president. These days, it’s his wife Grace who is grabbing attention in this southern African country.
In the past year, she has spent much of her time crisscrossing the country, addressing supporters in the blazing sun in remote areas. She hands out food parcels, clothing and farming equipment, most paid for by the government and some by her family. She tells farmers that they should be loyal to her.
She is referred to as “Mother,’’ and cars and t-shirts are covered with her image and the slogan, “Everyone Belongs to Mother.’’
Most of these events and speeches are duly carried live on state television, magnifying their impact, to the dismay of the opposition which accuses the country’s sole television broadcaster of partisan reporting.
In December, she claimed seniority over Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“He has more experience in politics than me,’’ she conceded at a rally attended by thousands of villagers in southeastern Zimbabwe, but then added: “It does not mean the first lady is below the VP.’’
Usually dressed in elegant toe-length dresses accessorized by flashy rings and jewelry, the feisty 50-year-old Mugabe’s rise began only a year ago. In December 2014, she was appointed by her husband to head the Women’s League of the ruling ZANU-PF party after becoming instrumental in the down fall of former Vice President Joice Mujuru. She used a string of political rallies to publicly accuse Mujuru of corruption, power mongering and vowed to get her husband to fire the VP for attempting to usurp power.
Robert Mugabe, who turns 92 in February, has backed the rise of his former secretary and second wife. His first wife died in 1992.
“She is the most powerful politician in ZANU-PF at the moment. She is wearing her husband’s robes and she is ruthlessly using that borrowed power to destroy her rivals,’’ said human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba, who heads the South Africabased Zimbabwe Exiles Forum.
Those who have dared to criticize Mugabe have felt her growing power in this country.
“You are not going to gag me. You can only silence me by killing me,’’ she said at a Harare rally in November, taking a page from her husband’s playbook.