Grace Mugabe has no ambition to be Zimbabwe president

First Lady Grace Mugabe says she's not interested in politics and has never said she wants to be president.

The First Lady, who turned 50 on Thursday, said she was even approached with the offer of a cabinet post, but had turned it down because she had more than enough to do as the president's wife.

"I have never - in anyway, in any place, at any time - said I would want to be the president of this country," she said in an interview published in the state-run Sunday Mail.

Grace Mugabe's rapid ascent to the head of the ruling party's powerful Women's League in December, and her promotion to the party's key decision-making politburo fueled speculation she was aiming high.

Last October she told supporters at a rally in southern Zimbabwe that she was "seeing a higher post" and that she had been quietly mentored by her husband over the years.

But in the interview with the Sunday Mail, Grace Mugabe said: "I don't have the ambition to run for the presidency."

There had been speculation that she would be promoted to the vacant post of Minister of Women's Affairs, but earlier this month, President Robert Mugabe appointed Nyasha Chikwinya instead.

"I have said no (to a ministerial post) because I have so much already on my plate. I don't want to take up that position. I personally feel I have a lot of work to do as First Lady."

The First Lady marked her 50th and her son's 18th birthday last night with a joint party for 2000 guests. It was held at the Mugabe mansion, which is known as Blue Roof because of its blue tiles, in Borrowdale, northern Harare.