SATURDAY PROFILE

bought in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Born in Benoni, Grace Mugabe has come a long way from when she was a young mother, married to an air force pilot, working as a typist at the gracious, modest, Dutch-gabled State House in central Harare.

Robert Mugabe, whose wife Sally was seriously ill for many years, fell for the extraordinarily pretty and beautifully turned-out Grace.

She quickly abandoned her husband, kept their son, got divorced and eventually married Mugabe after Sally died. And then State House, which had housed the British and then the Rhodesians, became too small for Grace and so the Mugabe mansion emerged in the northern suburbs: an about 10 000sq m building, built at a cost in the early 2000s of about R130 million.

It is a beautiful pile with acres of landscaped, elegant gardens sporting wildlife and pretty dams on several levels. The property belongs to Rob- ert Mugabe but is financed by the state and staffed by scores of civil servants. Grace, who is neat and tidy, ensures her staff are always well dressed at all times.

Many say a good dollop of Grace Mugabe’s style and flavour was learned from former model Kiki Divaris, who became her friend and advisor. Divaris, an immigrant from Greece, married into a family closely involved with the former Rhodesian Front of Ian Smith. She had been friends with Sally Mugabe and her friendship carried over to wife number two.

Grace kept a fairly low profile life as her children were growing up, creating ever- more brightly coloured, largely home-made outfits with which she dazzled people when she accompanied her husband to parliament.

And she shopped a lot. When the EU banned her from Europe she moved to the malls of the old Yugoslavia, then Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai.

Grace was listening, watching, and improving her English and eventually three years ago she was awarded a phoney PhD which she acquired two months after she registered at the University of Zimbabwe.

Then she manipulated her way into becoming boss of the Zanu PF women’s league. She loves the podium and the microphone. Waving and shouting in Shona and English, she is often crude, and sometimes talks sense about political personalities. Her audiences are mesmerised and in awe of her.

Grace Mugabe borrows regularly from Zimbabwe’s largest bank, the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, and there

PICTURE: AP Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe, in one of her brightly-coloured creations.