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Grace Mugabe turns 52 tomorrow

by Staff reporter
22 Jul 2017 at 19:26hrs | Views
Tomorrow the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe turns 52.

Nicknamed the First Shopper, Grace was born on 23 July 1965 to migrant parents in Benoni, South Africa. She was the fourth child in a family of five.

In 1970, at the age of five, she moved back to Zimbabwe to live with her mother in Chivhu while her father stayed and worked in South Africa supporting the family from there.

She did her primary education in Chivhu before she went to Kriste Mambo in Manicaland for secondary school.

In 1996 she married President Mugabe after a controversial period in which she was allegedly having an affair with him while his first wife Sally was dying on a hospital bed.

The couple have three children together - Bona, Robert Junior and Chatunga while she has another child Russell from her previous marriage.

Things to know about Grace Mugabe

Began affair with Robert Mugabe, 41 years her senior, whilst working as a typist in state house
Mr Mugabe later said his first wife Sally, who was terminally ill at the time, knew and approved of the relationship
Married Mr Mugabe, her second husband, in 1996 in an extravagant ceremony. They have three children
Nicknamed "Gucci Grace" by her critics who accuse her of lavish spending
Along with her husband, is subject to EU and US sanctions, including travel bans
Praised by supporters for her charitable work and founding of an orphanage
Received a PhD in September 2014, a month after being nominated to takeover the leadership of the Zanu-PF women's league



Source - online