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'I'm a modest queen,' says Grace Mugabe
10 Sep 2014 at 15:52hrs | Views
First Lady Grace Mugabe yesterday described herself as a modest "queen" who has been reluctantly sucked into the ruling party's vicious politics.
As she addressed hundreds of chiefs who visited her Mazowe orphanage to endorse her nomination as the incoming Women's League boss yesterday, President Robert Mugabe's wife sensationally claimed that her husband was the poorest president in the world.
Surrounded by chiefs looking resplendent in their flowing red gowns, Grace, who tied the knot with Mugabe in 1994, said though she was married to Zimbabwe's president, she remains a villager at heart, who does not care much about fashion.
"I am a village girl but we are the queens of this country," she said.
"I came from you, and when I was chosen by Mugabe, I said, 'God you have lifted me up and I want to use my position to uplift others.' I did not choose to be here, it was God's choice. Hupenyu hwangu hausi hwekupfeka bhutsu dzakanaka, hausi hwekupfeka hembe dzakanaka, ndewekupfeka ma gumboots (My life is not about wearing nice shoes, nice clothes, but wearing gumboots)."
The event at her orphanage, where she has taken under her wing 82 orphans, saw the first lady charming the invited chiefs, whom she invited in advance together with their spouses to her 50th birthday party next year.
Grace also told the chiefs that she personally led the invasion of Iron Mask farm, where the orphanage now stands.
"We agreed to grab this farm so as to lead by example," she said. She added that despite being the First Lady, she preferred to drive herself. She did not state what type of car she drove.
Although the Mugabes own one of the biggest dairy companies in Zimbabwe, she said the first family owed financial institutions close to $20 million in loans.
She claimed her husband was poor.
"We are blessed because we have Baba Mugabe, he is the poorest president. I have never seen him asking for money from anyone," she said.
The world's poorest president title is officially Uruguay's President Jose Mujica, who lives in a ramshackle farm house and donates most of his earnings to the poor.
Heaping praises on Oppah Muchinguri, the outgoing Women's League boss who relinquished her post to make way for her, Grace said she was ready to be a "monya" or bouncer.
As she addressed hundreds of chiefs who visited her Mazowe orphanage to endorse her nomination as the incoming Women's League boss yesterday, President Robert Mugabe's wife sensationally claimed that her husband was the poorest president in the world.
Surrounded by chiefs looking resplendent in their flowing red gowns, Grace, who tied the knot with Mugabe in 1994, said though she was married to Zimbabwe's president, she remains a villager at heart, who does not care much about fashion.
"I am a village girl but we are the queens of this country," she said.
"I came from you, and when I was chosen by Mugabe, I said, 'God you have lifted me up and I want to use my position to uplift others.' I did not choose to be here, it was God's choice. Hupenyu hwangu hausi hwekupfeka bhutsu dzakanaka, hausi hwekupfeka hembe dzakanaka, ndewekupfeka ma gumboots (My life is not about wearing nice shoes, nice clothes, but wearing gumboots)."
The event at her orphanage, where she has taken under her wing 82 orphans, saw the first lady charming the invited chiefs, whom she invited in advance together with their spouses to her 50th birthday party next year.
Grace also told the chiefs that she personally led the invasion of Iron Mask farm, where the orphanage now stands.
"We agreed to grab this farm so as to lead by example," she said. She added that despite being the First Lady, she preferred to drive herself. She did not state what type of car she drove.
Although the Mugabes own one of the biggest dairy companies in Zimbabwe, she said the first family owed financial institutions close to $20 million in loans.
She claimed her husband was poor.
"We are blessed because we have Baba Mugabe, he is the poorest president. I have never seen him asking for money from anyone," she said.
The world's poorest president title is officially Uruguay's President Jose Mujica, who lives in a ramshackle farm house and donates most of his earnings to the poor.
Heaping praises on Oppah Muchinguri, the outgoing Women's League boss who relinquished her post to make way for her, Grace said she was ready to be a "monya" or bouncer.
Source - dailynews
