The European Union allows the return to the continent of the wife of the late Zimbabwean leader, implicated in the corruption of the regime
Grace Mugabe can now take flight. The European Union has lifted the financial sanctions and the ban on traveling to the Old Continent that weighed on the widow of the deceased former leader of Zimbabwe. In any case, it does not seem clear that the former most powerful woman can immediately return to the luxury stores of Paris, London or Hong Kong. Her regimen has ostracized her, though she urgently needs to resume her usual shopping, especially those for her little feet. ‘Gucci Grace’, as she is called, needs to get hold of a pair of Ferragamo like Carrie Bradshaw, the star of ‘Sex and the City’, yearned for her Manolo Blahnik with a sharp heel.
Curiously, the Brussels decision comes without the human rights situation in the African country having improved. The measure, which benefits several leaders, seems like a concession to bring positions closer to his troubled government. Zimbabwe is suffering from a catastrophic economic situation, generated by a native elite that led the former British colony from an ‘apartheid’ system to absolute chaos.
The presidential couple was responsible for this resounding failure and chance has had a notorious influence. Nothing suggested that Grace Ntombizodwa Marufu, the daughter of a Zimbabwean immigrant in South Africa, would one day have to fear censorship from a foreign government or that she would collect sandals and ankle boots from a renowned Italian brand. She just hit the right button, literally and figuratively. That young wife of a pilot from the meager native Air Force took a typing course that led her in 1980 to the personal office of the president. It was then that her husband was posted as a military attaché to the embassy in China, where he received divorce papers, and her secretary began a meteoric rise to local stardom.
lavish ceremony
There were some marital impediments, but they were not decisive. President Mugabe was married to Sally Hayfron, a renowned ex-guerrilla fighter and seriously ill. Her only child was deceased and the Xhona tradition requires offspring. Before the first woman died, Grace had already conceived two with the leader, 41 years older than her lover, and a third after the marriage, a lavish ceremony that brought together 15,000 guests in 1996, including Nelson Mandela.
‘Gucci Grace’ has been left alone in Gracelands, a mansion that cost more than 10 million euros
The fate of the newlywed seemed the usual in a First Lady of a country mired in corruption. The opportunity to do fat business was propitious. In 2000, the Executive dispossessed the white minority of their properties in the interest of property reform. The presumed agrarian reform hid a robbery. The cadres of the ruling ZANU party appropriated the best residences and the most fertile lands. Mrs. Mugabe bought land for a negligible value, built a mansion and resold it to none other than Colonel Gaddafi. In addition, her family took over ten farms and even a dairy company. Then came the diamond trade and the start-up of a whole business empire.
The most prosperous country on the continent sank. Hyperinflation devastated its productive system and more than 2 million citizens emigrated. But none of this changed the lifestyle of Robert Mugabe, one of the leaders within the non-aligned movement. The leader’s wife received the nicknames ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘DisGrace’, for her ability to waste in a state in ruins. The construction of ‘Blue Roof’, the ostentatious presidential residence, cost more than 10 million euros. During its construction, 80% of Zimbabweans were unemployed and only 20% of the child population attended school.
It could have been one more, another spouse of a venal politician, but at the age of ninety, the president was aware of the need for relief and the candidate was on the other side of the bed. Grace took on the role enthusiastically. The presidential couple dressed the same with patterned suits that appealed to the political situation.
Coup
Grace did not calculate her strength in the race to power. Her exuberant and somewhat quarrelsome personality won out. The aspiring president was capable of obtaining a Ph. Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, better known as ‘the Crocodile’, and force his removal.
But the saurians, it is already known, dive into the murky waters and carry out lethal attacks on their prey. In 2017, the Mugabes were surprised by a coup, instigated by the rival, which ended their long hegemony. Two years later, the old warlord died in a clinic in Singapore.
Grace was left alone at Gracelands, a complex she owns located 40 kilometers from the capital Harare where, until now, it seems, she has suffered the confinement forced by the Mnangagwa government. The news of her pardon by the European Union does not seem to change her situation. The current regime is in favor of her keeping a low profile. The Ferragamo will have to wait.