Zimbabwe’s First Lady, Grace Mugabe, has made her first move into frontline politics by accepting the nomination for secretary of the Zanu PF Women’s League.
Her election to the post at the Zanu PF congress in December could propel her into the race to be nominated as her 90-year-old husband’s successor ahead of the party’s congress in December.
Mrs Mugabe, 49, become the president’s second wife after serving as a secretary in his typing pool when she married him in 1996, a year after the death of his first Ghanaian wife, Sally.
She was unanimously picked as the sole candidate for Women’s Secretary by a carefully-selected group of female Zanu PF members from the provinces at her 49th birthday party, but which insiders said was a staged political meeting in the grounds of a children’s home she runs in Mazowe district about 20 miles west of Harare.
The pro-Zanu PF state daily, the Herald, said Mrs Mugabe said she was “shocked” when her name was put forward.
The pro-Zanu PF state daily, the Herald, said Mrs Mugabe said she was “shocked” when her name was put forward.
The current women’s leader, Oppah Muchinguri told the First Lady: “When you married the President you offered to make his troubles yours and you have been there with him ever since, even in the light of attacks by paparazzi and the West. You fought for us and the country and the only way we can repay you is to ask you to lead us.”
The announcement would be a “major upset” for would-be successors, Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Credit: The Telegraph
The announcement would be a “major upset” for would-be successors, Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Credit: The Telegraph
