Who is Grace Mugabe?

Who is Grace Mugabe?

Grace Ntombizodwa was born in Benoni in South Africa. She married air force pilot Stanley Goreraza and they had a son, Russell Goreraza, born 1984. While working as secretary to the president, Robert Mugabe, she became his mistress while still married to Stanley Goreraza - and had two children, Bona, named after Mugabe's mother, and Robert Peter, Jr. After the death of Mugabe's first wife, Sally Hayfron, the couples were married in an extravagant Catholic Mass, titled the "Wedding of the Century" by the Zimbabwe press. In 1997, she gave birth to the couple's third child, Chatunga Mugabe.

Grace Mugabe enrolled as an undergraduate student at the School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University of China in 2007, studying the Chinese language. She graduated in 2011. She admitted, however, that she was not proficient in Chinese after finishing the degree.

In late 2014, Grace Mugabe was critical of Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who allegedly plotted against her husband President Mugabe. Ultimately, the accusations against Mujuru resulted in her elimination as a candidate to succeed Mugabe and effectively becoming an outcast within ZANU-PF by the time it held a party congress in December 2014. Meanwhile, Grace Mugabe's political prominence increased. She was nominated as head of the ZANU-PF Women's League, and delegates to the party congress approved her nomination by acclamation on 6 December 2014. In becoming head of the women's league, she also became a member of the ZANU-PF Politburo.

Since 2016, the first lady’s involvement in ZANU-PF in-house politics has seen rumors pointing out that she is fronting one of the party’s secretive factions, the G40. The other faction, Lacoste, assumingly led by the Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Factionalism in ZANU PF is mainly a result of Mugabe succession battles (who will succeed President Robert Mugabe). The feud between Grace Mugabe and Mnangagwa reached a tipping point in late September with both parties pointing fingers to each other on ZANU PF public gatherings.

While addressing a gathering at Mahofa’s memorial service Mnangagwa claimed he was poisoned at a ZANU PF Youth Interface rally in Gwanda. Soon after Mnangagwa’s remarks, President Robert Mugabe called a shock cabinet reshuffle in what many believe to be power-shifting exercise. Mnangagwa, like fellow suspected allies, lost the justice ministry. October 2017 marked Grace Mugabe’s peak political influence in ZANU PF.

Sanctions

After observers from the European Union were barred from examining Zimbabwe's 2002 elections, the EU imposed sanctions on 20 members of the Zimbabwe leadership and then, in July, extended them to include Grace Mugabe and 51 others, banning them from travelling to participating countries and freezing any assets held there. The United States instituted similar restrictions.

Real estate

During her tenure as first lady, Grace Mugabe oversaw the construction of two palaces. The first, commonly referred to as "Gracelands", was criticized for its extravagance. Grace Mugabe later explained that she had paid for it with her own personal savings. It was later sold to Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. The second was completed in 2007, costing around $26 million. The construction was funded by the ZANU-PF party to thank Robert Mugabe for his political service.

In 2002, Grace Mugabe toured farm properties in Zimbabwe, looking for a new location for herself and her family. She chose the Iron Mask Estate, which had been previously owned by farmers John and Eva Matthews.

The first family owns property in Malaysia, and in early 2008, it was reported that Grace Mugabe hoped to move there with her children. The intention behind the move was to escape the stress of leadership and to address fears that the first family faces assassination. She also acquired property holdings in Hong Kong, including a diamond cutting business and a bolt-hole at House Number Three, JC Castle, 18 Shan Tong Road, Tai Po, New Territories.

IOL news speculated that this property acquisition was intended as both a weekend getaway for their daughter Bona who is studying at the University of Hong Kong under an assumed name and that she and her husband expect to escape to China should they be ousted from power in Zimbabwe.

Diamond trade allegations and lawsuit

In December 2010 US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks brought up again earlier allegations that high-ranking Zimbabwean government officials and well-connected elites, including Mugabe's wife Grace, are generating millions of dollars in personal income by hiring teams of diggers to hand-extract diamonds from the Chiadzwa mine in eastern Zimbabwe. Grace Mugabe is currently suing a Zimbabwean newspaper over its reporting of claims released by Wikileaks she had made "tremendous profits" from the country's diamond mines. The president's wife is demanding $15m (£9.6m) from the Standard newspaper.

Shopping

Grace Mugabe is known for her lavish lifestyle. The Daily Telegraph called her "notorious at home for her profligacy" in coverage of a 2003 trip to Paris, during which she was reported as spending £75,000 (approx US$120,000) in a short shopping spree; and in the years leading up to 2004 withdrew over £5 million from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe. When Grace Mugabe was included in the 2002 sanctions, one EU parliamentarian said that the ban would "stop Grace Mugabe going on her shopping trips in the face of catastrophic poverty blighting the people of Zimbabwe. She faces similar sanctions in the United States.

Daughter's controversies in Hong Kong

Early reports indicated Bona Mugabe was a student at the University of Hong Kong. A protest started on the University of Zimbabwe campus on 3 February 2009 resulting in about 30 students needing medical treatment including police forces being used against defenceless citizens and harassments of students. Zimbabwe students were protesting to the Chinese embassy that Bona Mugabe should return home to Zimbabwe and study in the same conditions as her peers. Colleges and universities in Zimbabwe had failed to open in 2008 due to dollarisation of fees and other economic problems.

On 17 February the University of Hong Kong distanced itself from the controversy, denying a report that she was a student there. The school statement said "We do not have a student by the name of Bona Mugabe on our student register, and we do not have any lady student from Zimbabwe who is reading for an undergraduate programme or is at the age of around 20." Subsequent reports clarified that Bona was in fact enrolled in a second school, the City University of Hong Kong, which said she met normal admission requirements and her enrollment was not influenced by her parentage. Due to the attention surrounding Robert Mugabe's daughters her family enlisted the help of a female ex-government official to provide safety and supervision during her time in Hong Kong.

According to vice chairperson of the HK Democratic Party, Emily Lau, the government should study whether to follow international practice in barring certain foreign politicians as many people might be looking at buying properties, investments or education in Hong Kong. Lee Wing-tat said Beijing should be making the decision since this was a foreign affair. Spokesperson Jiang Yu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said she was not aware of the Mugabes' alleged house purchase in Hong Kong and would not comment further. A professor at the University of HK said Beijing was trying to stay out of the controversy. The Beijing central government dismissed the concerns, adding that Falun Gong members were allowed to buy properties in Hong Kong.

Education

Controversy ensued when Grace Mugabe was given a doctoral degree in sociology in September 2014 from the University of Zimbabwe two months after entering the programme. She was awarded the degree by her husband and University Chancellor Robert Mugabe. Her doctoral thesis is not available in the University archive and she has faced calls to return her PhD. This caused backlash in the Zimbabwean academic community, with some commenting that this could harm the reputation of the University.

Various assaults

The Times reported on 18 January 2009 that, while on a shopping trip in Hong Kong, where her daughter Bona Mugabe was a university student, Mugabe ordered her bodyguard to assault a Sunday Times photographer Richard Jones outside her luxury hotel. She then joined in the attack, punching Jones repeatedly in the face while wearing diamond encrusted rings, causing him cuts and abrasions. She was subsequently granted immunity from prosecution 'under Chinese diplomatic rules' because of her status as Mugabe's wife.

In August 2017, while visiting South Africa to treat an ankle injury, Grace is said to have assaulted a 20-year-old model, Gabriella Engels and two friends, who were in the company of her two younger sons, Robert Jr. and Chatunga, at a hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. It is alleged that Grace hit the women and her sons, with an extension cord, causing various injuries including a deep gash on Engels' forehead. This was after accusing the women of living with her sons. After charges were laid by Engels for "assaultwith intent to cause grievous bodily harm", Grace was due to appear at a Johannesburg court on 15 August 2017, but failed to appear; she was subsequently granted diplomatic immunity.

In November 2017, Grace was instrumental in the firing of the then Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa after castigating him for causing divisions in Zanu PF. The country was in heightened tension and soon thereafter while Emmerson Mnangagwa had sought refuge outside of Zimbabwe, the military took over in a bloodless coup under General Constantine Chiwenga. Grace Mugabe was notably invisible at this time with reports that she had been denied refuge in South Africa and that she had been allowed entry into Namibia.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Mugabe