Grace
Mugabe became the frontrunner to take the top job when Mugabe last week
sacked her archrival, vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
(AFP/File)
President Robert Mugabe's downfall was caused by the
ambitions of his combative wife Grace, whose emergence as his likely
successor proved a step too far for Zimbabwe's military, analysts say.
Grace Mugabe -- 41 years younger than her husband -- was once dismissed as a lightweight shopping addict.
But
she became increasingly active in public life in recent years, and
became the frontrunner to take the top job when Mugabe last week sacked
her arch-rival, vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The
military -- determined to stop Grace, 52, being named as the new vice
president -- moved in on Wednesday, taking control of the country and
signalling the imminent end of Mugabe's rule.
"The
crisis has been triggered by Grace because she wanted to grab power and
to have Mugabe remove a lot of people," Shadrack Gutto, director of the
Centre for African Renaissance Studies at the University of South
Africa, told AFP.
"She overreached herself. She has done a lot to accelerate the removal of her husband from power.
"The military decided that enough is enough."
Grace's
political plans were backed by the so-called G40, a group of young
supporters that has earned a reputation for aggression.
The
faction, which includes some ministers, has been the primary target of
the military officers who announced on state TV in the early hours of
Wednesday that they would bring "criminals" close to Mugabe to justice.
'They had to act'
Grace was
awarded a doctorate by the University of Zimbabwe, where her husband is
chancellor, reportedly just three months after enrolling.
(AFP/File)
"The Zimbabwean army feel they have the
right to have a president they approve of," Knox Chitiyo, of the Chatham
House think-tank, told AFP.
"They had to
act now before Grace was appointed as vice president at the ZANU-PF
party congress next month. Grace's team got within weeks of success."
Grace,
born in South Africa, was one of Mugabe's secretaries when their affair
began in 1987, and they had two children in secret before the
president's wife died in 1992.
The couple then married at a lavish ceremony in 1996 attended by Nelson Mandela, before having a third child.
Grace
was awarded a doctorate by the University of Zimbabwe, where her
husband is chancellor, reportedly just three months after enrolling, and
in 2014 became the head of the ZANU-PF party's women's wing.
She
has often been accused of extravagant spending on luxury clothes and
international travel, and of involvement in corrupt land deals.
'Gucci Grace'
Dubbed
"Gucci Grace", "The First Shopper" or even "DisGrace", she showed her
political mettle in 2014 with her campaign against then-vice president
Joice Mujuru, who was a contender to succeed her husband.
Grace launched sustained verbal attacks against Mujuru, accusing her of plotting to topple the president.
Soon afterwards, Mujuru was ousted and later expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF party.
But
Grace's attempt to neutralise Mnangagwa ended very differently --
leaving her and her husband languishing under house arrest in Harare.
Grace Mugabe's confrontational approach and distant public image have brought her little popular affection in Zimbabwe.
Despite that, her supporters have sought to popularise nicknames like "Dr Amai (Doctor Mother)" and "queen of queens".
In
speeches she had railed against anyone accused of disloyalty to the
president, and her short temper hit the headlines in August when she
allegedly assaulted a model who was with two of her sons at a South
African hotel.
Grace was granted diplomatic immunity and made a swift exit from the country.
She once told a South African television programme that she is no longer concerned about what people think of her.
"I have developed a thick skin, I don't even care," she said. "My husband says ignorance is bliss."
With
President Mugabe in increasingly poor health, Grace may now seek exile
or try to secure some level of protection for her and her family as
Zimbabwe enters a new era.
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