Grace fails test of character in host country’s Women’s Month
Zim first lady needed to show Engels motherly and leadership qualities
What Zimbabwean first lady Grace Mugabe did in South Africa this week is wrong on so many levels.
Yeah, I know, that’s the tackiest opening line you can ever use for a weekly column. But the cringeworthy opening fits the subject, as you shall soon see.
On one of her regular jaunts to Sandton, where she does her shopping if she is not doing that in Europe or Dubai, Madame Mugabe used an electrical cord to attack 20year-old Gabriella Engels when she found her sitting with her university-going sons Robert Jnr and Chatunga in a hotel room.
Engels laid charges against her. While confirming that an assault charge had been laid against a certain individual, the police initially refused to name Mugabe.
It took Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula to point out that Mugabe had already handed herself to police and would appear in court soon after. However, there was no trace of Mugabe near any court and rumours of her skipping the country escalated.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha assured the nation that the matter was in good hands.
“The fact that you’re a high profile person in itself makes it more often less difficult for you to be a flight risk depending on the circumstances,” Masutha said. However, a twist to this tale was added on Wednesday when the police ministry told the media it could only arrest her once it had received an indication from the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco).
She’s invoked diplomatic immunity and is now awaiting a response from the Dirco. If immunity is granted, this will mark the second time Mugabe gets diplomatic protection over an assault case.
She allegedly assaulted a British photographer in Hong Kong in
1999, but no charges were brought against her.
President Robert Mugabe landed at Waterkloof Airforce Base on Wednesday night and he’s expected to intervene on the matter. We do not know how this is finally going to pan out by the end of the week. However, as I said in the opening of the column, what Madame Mugabe did was tacky.
First of all, a stupid error of judgment has metamorphosed into what is becoming a diplomatic hot potato. She should have thrown Engels out of her sons’ hotel room, and dealt with the young men accordingly. Clearly, they had invited the model to the room.
The second layer to the insult is the disdain that she has shown to the authorities who tried, in the first instance, to hide her identity to save all parties concerned inevitable embarrassment.
Thirdly, we are in the middle of Women’s Month, a time when we rededicate ourselves to honouring and respecting women. Yes, honouring and respecting women should be part of our DNA, but clearly the levels of abuse of women indicate that there is a lot of work to be done to restore the balance. Which is why August was chosen as a tangible reminder to this shortcoming that has to be addressed by all means necessary.
Now to have a woman leader, who should know better, attacking a woman in as vicious a manner as has been described by sources, is an erosion of the gains we have made in this struggle against the abuse of women.
By all indications, Grace Mugabe, a South African by birth in case you didn’t know, could be her 93-year-old husband’s successor to the throne.
It behoves a leader to exercise restraint. We are not privy to the details of the altercation or verbal exchange that might have ensued in that hotel room, but one would expect that Mugabe, being older, mature and a leader to boot, would have found another way of dealing with the younger woman.
Those are just observations. The courts will make their own findings. In all honesty, Madame Mugabe should hang her head in shame. And, most importantly, take responsibility.