Zimbabwe's true state of Grace
A T-shirt poking fun at President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace has gripped the imagination in Zimbabwe, sparking heated debate and providing a fascinating glimpse into vicious political squabbles triggered by the 93-year-old leader’s unresolved succession.
The message on the T-shirt reads: “Control your children first. Grace a failed mum; her sons unruly rogues; failing only with two boys, can’t mother 14 million.”
Matemadanda argues that Grace, 52, a former typist who indulged in an extramarital affair with Mugabe culminating in marriage in 1996, has no moral authority to posture as a national leader. He says she has failed to rein in her wayward sons, who were recently evicted from their rented luxury apartment in Johannesburg for rowdy behaviour which left one of their bodyguards with a fractured leg and arm.
Grace has angered the war veterans by arguing that Mugabe has every right to choose his successor. She has vowed that Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa – the war veterans’ preferred successor – will not take over from Mugabe. Critics of Mugabe’s wife have given her an unflattering nickname, Marujata, after a much-reviled Jezebel-like character in local Shona folklore.
Grace told a political rally in Mashonaland West province that nobody in Zanu-PF, including Mugabe, can stop her from doing whatever she wants.
