Protests rattle Mugabe’s wife

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, at the weekend showed signs of shaking amidst popular protests that rocked Zimbabwe recently.

Speaking at a Zanu PF inter-district meeting in Harare on Saturday, Grace urged party supporters to guard against what happened in Libya and Egypt when unpopular regimes were overthrown through mass protests.

The ruling elite in the two countries, together with the leadership in Tunisia, were in 2011 toppled by angry citizens in what was later known as the Arab Springs.

She said Zimbabwe could easily degenerate into civil unrest.

“We must take a cue from what happened in Libya, Iraq, Egypt and other countries,” Grace said.

She also alluded to another violent regime change in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was toppled with the help of international forces that included the US and Britain.

In the wake of the protests that rocked the Beitbridge border town and spread to Harare as well as other cities, Grace also vowed that she would not stop talking her political enemies within and outside Zanu PF and admitted she faced the risk of being shot.

At the rally, the president’s wife seemed to revive her acidic rant against Vice President Emmmerson Mnangagwa, saying those that Mugabe had given political positions must be content with it rather seek more power.

She has in the past hinted that Mnangagwa wanted to take over power from her husband.

Grace repeated a pitch by her husband and top government officials that the protests were sponsored by western powers, particularly France and the US, saying the job stayaway by civil servants last week over salary delays was an outside job.

She also insisted that the import ban that torched the protests in Beitbridge were justified and would continue.

“Let us not be hoodwinked by our detractors because we know there are some governments that don’t like us and they will give money to sponsor a stay away,” she said. Nehanda Radio