Another Mugabe as the next president of Zimbabwe? Don’t rule it out

The rise of Grace Mugabe is an unfolding political fairytale that creates awe from her followers, concern from the primed, and exposes her sheer audacity. We now even have a street called Grace Mugabe Way, which sprouted from nowhere this week without going through city authorities. Is this a Mugabe dynasty in the making?

If you had suggested this a few months ago, you would have been seriously laughed at. However, the reality is slowly dawning that President Mugabe is under serious pressure from the first lady to secure her future. Grace Mugabe, nicknamed “Gucci Grace” for her penchant for shopping, could, if unrestrained, indeed attain the highest office in the land.

It all started about three months ago, with an informal gathering of Zanu-PF women’s league leadership at Mazowe Estate, just over 40km outside Harare. This is a farm that the first lady controversially occupied and on which she subsequently built a state-of-the-art orphanage. At this gathering, there was a surprise announcement that Oppah Muchinguri, the current boss of the Women’s League, was giving up her influential position in preference to Grace Mugabe. The rest is history.

Of course the first lady embraced the offer and, with unprecedented speed and panache, she was endorsed by all Zanu-PF provinces as the next head of the Women’s League to be elected, without contest, at the current congress. Since then, we saw Dr Grace Mugabe acquire a PhD within two months of study, her master’s thesis having been “upgraded” because of its high standard. She also held countrywide rallies on her “meet the people” tour, whose source of funding remains curious.

During these rallies, supported by the presence of some government ministers, she unashamedly tore into the vice-president Joice Mujuru, describing her as corrupt, unfit for office and accusing her of plotting not only to assassinate President Mugabe but threatening to make Grace’s life hell on Earth once Mugabe goes.

In any normal democracy, the vice-president might be expected to take over from the president, but not in Zimbabwe. The fate of Mujuru, who most expected to take over from President Mugabe, has clearly dumbfounded many political pundits.

Within a very short space of time, Mujuru and anyone associated with her have become enemies of the state. We have recently seen many of her supposed allies cowering for cover and being purged from Zanu-PF through spurious “votes of no confidence”, expulsions and even imprisonment. Most of them, at some stage, seemed untouchable, having been loyal to Mugabe throughout the years and assumed destined for better things. It is a political massacre of the old guard and no one is complaining.

Speculation is rife that this is the hand of presidential aspirant and current minister of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs, Emmerson Mnangagwa. He is a well-known Mugabe confidant and schemer, nicknamed the crocodile, who has been suspected of plotting behind the scenes and using the first lady as a front to clear his way to the top by discrediting his rival, Mujuru, and purging her allies.

However, this scenario is now doubtful because, besides it underestimating Grace’s ambition, Mugabe recently allegedly stated that even Mnangagwa himself is not a suitable heir to the throne.

In an unprecedented manner, Zanu-PF has also recently resolved to change its constitution so that only President Mugabe can nominate the next two vice-presidents at congress. (Previously vice-presidents were nominated by provinces and elected at congress.)

As the congress begins, anxiety prevails and nobody can confidently predict which two will be nominated as vice-presidents. However, it is quite plausible that Grace Mugabe could be one of them. This would, of course, prepare her to take over from Mugabe in 2018, barring any catastrophe.

The plot thickens but by the end of this week Mugabe must play his hand. We are in for a thriller in Harare.