Robert & Grace Mugabe – Rule by Proxy
By Alex T. Magaisa
A key phenomenon that has emerged in the last two years, has been the rise of Grace Mugabe as a serious actor on the Zimbabwean political landscape. Her role has been characterised by most as a manifestation of personal ambition to succeed her husband in the presidency.
In this regard, she has lately been regarded as posing a serious challenge to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man seen by most as the favourite to succeed Mugabe after the Zanu PF Congress last December, when he took over from former Vice President Joice Mujuru.
Some have even dared to characterise her as an emerging centre of power, separate from and fast eclipsing her powerful husband. After all, these days she seems to occupy more acres of space in the state press and enjoys more hours on the airwaves, compared to her husband. Her countrywide rallies, both last year and this year, have enhanced her visibility across the country. By comparison, her husband has been a relatively peripheral figure on the domestic scene, with public space being dominated by his wife.
However, these perceptions of Grace Mugabe fail to capture her true role as the major supporting act in this late phase of Mugabe’s long political career. She is not an emerging centre of power, since her power derives from and is inextricably tied to her husband’s.
Her ambition to lead may be a late discovery, and if it exists, it is not yet fully developed, but she is certainly not rivalling or eclipsing her husband. No-one in Zanu PF, not even she, has the capacity to do that. Her true role, in my opinion, is that of presidential agency, where in fact, Mugabe is now ruling both party and country by proxy, with his wife playing the role of agent on his behalf.
In other words, Grace Mugabe is merely acting as an agent of her husband, as he seeks to extend his rule even beyond 2018, when he will be 94. He remains the commander, and she, a mere foot-soldier.
What we are seeing here is a “smart partnership” between husband and wife – with Mugabe utilising the agency of his wife to carry out some of his duties and Grace Mugabe willing to do so in order to extend the life of his presidency.
The biological fact of Mugabe’s advanced age and diminished capacity that comes with it has not escaped notice. Mugabe and his wife are well aware of the challenges on both body and mind but also that the duties, political and administrative, have not diminished.
He has to perform his executive duties as President of the country, but he must also perform his political role in Zanu PF.
For example, he would have been the one going around the country, distributing the tractors and other gifts which Grace Mugabe has been handing out to rural communities. This distribution of gifts is a political campaign, albeit using State resources. It’s not new.
Mugabe has done it many times before. But the days of him gallivanting across the country and address rallies in every province are long gone. This is where the agency of his wife becomes relevant. What Grace Mugabe has done is to simply step up to do what her husband would normally be doing. It would be too onerous for Mugabe to be going around the country, speaking for hours, meeting party structures and dealing with all the challenges that come with the terrain.
Indications of Mugabe’s increasing frailty have become more evident in recent years. While he still looks remarkably fit for a person of his age, it is fair to say he is no longer capable of carrying the multiple responsibilities that come with his office. It is impossible to defy the effects of time, however hard one might try.
Thus Grace Mugabe has stepped in to help him carry on the duties of his office. She is focussing on the political aspects, while he handles the official duties as mandated by the Constitution. But even then, this line between the political and the official is very thin, as Grace Mugabe is straddling into the arena of the official when she is distributing State property from the Brazilian loan facility. They have tried to cover it up by saying she is merely “handing over” the property and not donating, but, really, that is a fig-leaf defence, indeed, a distinction without a difference.
Apart from lightening the load for her husband, Grace Mugabe is also serving the very useful purpose of drawing attention and scrutiny away from her husband. For years, Mugabe has enjoyed the centre-stage in Zimbabwean politics. No-one in his party has dared to upstage or outshine him. The only person with a licence to take that risk is his wife. Now Grace Mugabe is followed by Ministers and MPs, all jostling for space and attention at her rallies. The cameras are trained on her. The press is focussed on her.
If she has become a pantomime villain in the private media, this has been to Mugabe’s advantage. Grace Mugabe may be showing irritation with the negative attention she is getting, but she is doing a good job of shielding her husband.
It’s the political equivalent of a footballer who makes an outrageous tackle to earn himself a yellow or red card but by that circumstance, saving his team from conceding a goal – it’s called taking one for the team, in football parlance. If Grace Mugabe is taking too much criticism and abuse, it is for Team Mugabe.
This is because what ultimately matters for both of them, is that Mugabe stays in power for as long as possible, and probably until death. Even if he becomes too frail to carry on his duties, his load will be shifted to Grace Mugabe. For this reason, we are likely to see her taking on more and more responsibilities, especially duties that require public appearances.
This phenomenon of husband and wife partnership in politics is hardly new in the history of nations. Jiang Qing is regarded as one of the most powerful women of the 20th century. She was the wife of Chairman Mao, former leader of China and one of history’s most powerful figures.
Using her position of proximity to power, she played a crucial role in the Cultural Revolution, leading the so-called Gang of Four, accused of mass persecution of millions of people. Her power seemed to grow as Mao got older and frailer, in his last years in power. However, when Mao died in 1976, her power also waned. She spent her last years in jail, alone, powerless and miserable.
Grace Mugabe is clearly enjoying her new role, having emerged from the shadow of her powerful husband. She has not hesitated to flaunt her power, and using it ruthlessly when necessary, as she did last year when she harassed and humiliated Joice Mujuru until she was sacked.
In getting rid of Mujuru, Grace Mugabe was merely acting as the agent of her husband. Like Jiang Qing before her, she has created a reservoir of resentment and enemies. What happens after Mugabe is gone remains to be seen. For now, however, she will happily take the load off her husband’s shoulders if that will prolong his rule.
She said at a recent rally, that if need be, Mugabe would rule from a “special wheel-chair” even if he is 100 years old. She may have spoken in jest, but the reality is, in her, Mugabe has already got that “special wheel-chair”. She will continue to carry him for as long as possible. Zimbabwe may well have entered a phase of rule by proxy.
Dr Alex T. Magaisa can be reached on [email protected]. This article was initially published on his website: AlexMagaisa.com
