Mugabe set to appoint woman as deputy, first lady says it might be her
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is set to appoint a woman deputy after a special ruling party congress next month, the first lady said on Saturday – adding there would be nothing wrong if her husband appointed her.
The 93-year-old Mugabe has held power in the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980 and has consistently refused to anoint a successor. He argues that the ruling ZANU-PF party will choose his replacement if and when he decides to retire.
Grace Mugabe told a ZANU-PF rally in Bulawayo that the party would amend its constitution this month and the changes would be adopted at a special December congress to ensure that one of Mugabe’s two deputies would be a woman.
Allowing Mugabe to appoint a woman deputy could scuttle the presidential ambitions of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been seen as a shoe-in to succeed Mugabe. Phelekezela Mphoko is the second Mugabe deputy, but lacks any political base.
Mnangagwa, nicknamed “Ngwena” (Crocodile), has seen his political stock plummet in the last few months, on accusations by party rivals that he was plotting to get Mugabe to step down in his favor. He denies the accusation.
On Saturday, Grace Mugabe cranked up the pressure against Mnangagwa, calling him the “root cause of factionalism” that was gnawing at the ruling party. She also accused the vice president’s supporters of booing her while she gave her speech.
“Before that special congress, this November we need the constitution to be changed accordingly so that when we are going, we will adopt the proposal that one of the vice presidents should be a woman,” she said in a speech broadcast on state TV.
“What if I get in [as vice president]? What’s wrong with that? Am I not in the party? If people know that I work hard and they want to work with me what is wrong with that?”