Grace Mugabe has added fuel to speculation that she wants to become the next president of Zimbabwe in remarks that suggest the ruling party could be heading for a damaging split.
In widely-reported comments at a rally outside Harare on Thursday, the wife of the current president, Robert, said: “They say I want to be president. Why not? Am I not a Zimbabwean?”
The remarks formed part of a vitriolic tirade against current Zimbabwean vice president Joice Mujuru. Mugabe described Mujuru as “ungrateful, power-hungry, daft, corrupt, foolish, divisive and a disgrace”, and accused her of collaborating with opposition forces and white people to undermine the country’s post-independence gains.
She has previously claimed that Mujuru is corrupt and bent on fomenting divisions within the ruling Zanu-PF party. When Grace and Robert Mugabe returned from a trip to the Vatican this week, Grace reportedly refused to shake Mujuru’s hand at the airport.
Grace Mugabe’s public attacks on Mujuru have been gaining force in recent weeks. Since being nominated as head of the Zanu-PF Women’s League, Mugabe has embarked on a series of Meet the People rallies around Zimbabwe – dubbed “the Graceland tour” by local media. The first lady appears to share her husband’s taste for lengthy oratory.
While Mugabe’s onslaught against the vice president has fuelled speculation for some time that she might have an eye on the presidential seat herself, Thursday’s address is the most concrete sign of her political aspirations to date.
Robert Mugabe’s presidential term officially ends in 2018, but there are rumours that fading health could keep the 90 year-old leader from seeing it out. He has yet to publicly endorse any successor, but his silence on his wife’s comments is being read in some quarters as a tacit blessing on her candidacy.
Zimbabwean political analyst Vince Musewe told the Guardian last month, however, that he believed the idea that Grace Mugabe might succeed her husband was a “sideshow”.
“She doesn’t have the gravitas to lead Zimbabwe,” Musewe said.
Known as Amai (mother) to her supporters and DisGrace to her detractors, Mugabe raised eyebrows last month when she graduated with a PhD from the University of Zimbabwe in record time, despite showing little evidence of academic aptitude beforehand.
Zimbabwe’s vice president is not the only figure who has come in for a recent tongue-lashing from Grace Mugabe. During one rally, she reportedly called the 2012 death of journalist Heidi Holland – author of Dinner With Mugabe – a form of divine justice.
“There is a woman who wrote a book saying Mugabe’s wife is a dreadful person. I simply took that book and prayed to God, [saying] if this is true, reprimand me, but if they are lies, deal with this person. The woman killed herself as a result,” Grace Mugabe was quoted as saying.
Source: The Guardian
