President Robert Mugabe’s wife Saturday declared she could not be easily divorced by her 93-year-old husband should he ever entertain the thought some-day.
Grace was speaking during the Zimbabwean leader’s Mashonaland West youth interface rally attended by thousands of party supporters in Chinhoyi.
The First Lady’s target was embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is under fire for allegedly displaying unbridled ambition to succeed her husband.
She told the VP to remember that, just like co-Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko and herself as Zanu PF women’s league secretary, they were mere appointees who were serving at the president’s pleasure and could very easily be shown the door at a passing whip by their boss.
But in attempts to place nemesis Mnangagwa in his rightful place, Grace revealed her inner thoughts about her relationship with a man she most probably once enjoyed an office romp with but married officially when he had lost his first wife in 1992.
“If we go wrong, you (President) can remove us from our positions anytime you like,” Grace said, adding, “But inini chimwe chigaro chandiinacho cheudzimai hwenyu chinonetsa kubhisa. Tinenge takuenda kutoenda kumacourt. Mukada kundiramba tinenge takuenda kucourt ndakatsika madziro (But I, as someone who also occupies another position as your wife, it is difficult to remove me. If you dare try to divorce me, you are in for a bruising fight in the courts)”.
President Mugabe’s 52-year-old wife’s love for splendour has been singled out as one of the reasons why the world’s oldest head of state still clings to power at a ripe age of 93.
Many are quick to compare her with the late Ghanaian wife, Sally who was regarded as more sensible and may, by now, have persuaded President Mugabe to relinquish power if she was still alive.
Sally died of kidney ailment in 1992 and was declared a national heroine.
At the time of her illness, President Mugabe was already in an affair with his then typist, in what was, by far, the most high profile adulterous affair at the time.
Grace, who was once married to one Goreraza who reportedly abused her, has previously boasted that she was the only person in the country who could scold the feared Zimbabwean leader over anything without any consequences.