‘Gucci’ Grace Mugabe steps into Zimbabwe politics

 

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Grace Mugabe does not hide her displeasure about one of the frontrunners eventually to succeed her husband, Robert Mugabe, as president of Zimbabwe.

For weeks she has been publicly lashing out at Joice Mujuru, the country’s vice-president and de facto number two, as “incompetent”, “corrupt” and “a liar”.
The verbal barrage has thrust Mrs Mugabe – dubbed “Gucci Grace” because of her apparent penchant for shopping – into the political limelight, stirring a toxic battle among warring factions of the ruling Zanu-PF party. Political talk in Harare, the capital, is dominated by the vagaries of the succession battle.
Mr Mugabe, who turns 91 in February and has led the nation since independence in 1980, insisted last week that he is not about give up office. But the sudden, surprise rise of the glamorous 49-year-old Mrs Mugabe – the president’s second wife – has triggered a wave of speculation that the Mugabes want to keep the presidency in the family.