Harare – Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabeis reportedly “on the mend” following an accident on Saturday at the Harare International Airport that saw her sprain her ankle.
The state-owned Herald newspaper quoted the Presidential Press Secretary George Charamba as saying that by Sunday morning, Grace was “up and about”.
Grace suffered minor injuries in an accident that involved the presidential motorcade over the weekend.
The incident occurred shortly after President Robert and his wife landed back home after a week spent in Singapore, where Mugabe had gone for his third medical check-up this year.
As usual, the presidential limousine was waiting to whisk the First Family back to their Harare mansion. But the chauffeur set off before Grace Mugabe had got in, causing her to lose her balance.
“The sudden movement of the vehicle saw Amai (Mrs) Mugabe withdraw her foot from the car, and as she lost her balance, one shoe came off and was run over by a rear wheel,” the state-run Sunday Mail said in a report.
God’s intervention
Grace was treated at a local clinic before she was discharged.
Meanwhile, a prominent Zimbabwean pastor Patrick Mugadza said the First Lady’s accident was “a message from God advising her to stop evicting villagers in Mazowe”, according to New Zimbabwe.com.
The report said that the pastor recently visited hundreds of families who were evicted from Manzou farm by Grace and prayed for God’s intervention in their plight.
Mugadza said that the evictees’ tears “were now haunting the First Lady”.
Last week Grace moved to expand her Mazowe “empire” in Mashonaland province by grabbing the “iconic state-owned Mazowe Dam – almost a century after it was built – and surrounding tracts of land”.
According to Zimbabwe Independent, the move had heightened her “bitter fights local villagers”, who were now barred from using the huge dam, as she also wanted to privatise it.
Mazowe Dam was in the vicinity of Manzou farm where Grace’s growing empire already included a huge double-storey mansion, a dairy farm, an orphanage and a school.
Grace was also reportedly planning on building a university.
