Grace Mugabe, from village girl to political game changer

When the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe got married to President Mugabe at a lavish wedding in 1996 at the age of 31, some sceptics dismissed her saying she would not be able to emulate Amai Sally Mugabe who had passed on in 1992 due to a kidney failure.

Amai Sally Mugabe was loved by many people and so it was not a surprise that Amai Grace Mugabe, a village girl and a mere secretary, would face a torrent of criticism.

But then the sceptics were making one big mistake and today Amai Grace Mugabe has shoved back all the scepticism into the loud mouths of those who dismissed her as a nonentity in 1996. And she has done so spectacularly right before our wondering eyes.

The Zanu-PF Women's League could not resist Amai Mugabe's charm offensive and last week thousands of women gathered at her Mazowe Orphanage to ask her to take over as the leader of the Women's League.

At long last Amai Mugabe has arrived politically and she has become her own politician who cannot be compared to Amai Sally Mugabe. The big mistake that the pessimists were making in 1996 was to compare a veteran politician and nationalist with a 31-year-old who had never set foot in the jungles of national politics. It was so unfair but understandable.

A few days before their wedding in 1996, a very shy Amai Grace Mugabe spoke publicly for the first time saying she was not interested in politics. "I do not think I would like to be a politician. I have children to look after. But I actually look forward to working on various charity organisations. I will try to lead a normal life as much as possible – I have had friends but not too many. My best friend is my husband."

Indeed, Amai Mugabe lived to her word. Since 1996, she has managed to concentrate on raising her family and just a few months ago, Bona got married at a wedding that is still the talk of the town up to this day. What else could a mother ask for?

Despite the open declaration by the First Lady that she was not interested in joining politics, the sceptics continued using Amai Sally Mugabe as the barometer to measure her.

The Standard newspaper, in its February 19 2003 edition, summed up the views of the sceptics at the time in an article entitled: "Grace a dismal failure as First Lady".

The paper said: "It emerged that many Zimbabweans felt that Grace had failed to live up to the reputation of a First Lady and regarded her as a dismal failure when compared to Mugabe's first wife, the late Sally Mugabe.

Sally, the strong and popular Ghanaian-born intellectual, was heavily involved in charity work that earned her respect among Zimbabweans from all walks of life. Several people who spoke to The Standard said Sally's death marked the beginning of the deterioration of Mugabe's judgment as he was to have as his confidante, a shallow woman who possessed none of Sally's intelligence or concern for charitable causes.

"Sally stood by Mugabe when he and other nationalists endured trials and tribulations under the colonial regime of Ian Smith."

Now it's 18 years since the article above was published and the First Lady has really transformed herself into a game changer in Zanu-PF politics. Just the announcement that the Women's League has asked her to take over from Cde Oppah Muchinguri has sparked lots of debate and several conspiracy theories are being thrown around.

If the First Lady was some nonentity as The Standard reported in 1996, the move by the Women's League would have drawn laughter and ridicule. The Daily News on Sunday last week even screamed saying: "Will Grace succeed husband?" This is how much of a politician the First Lady has become.

But personally, I saw it coming. Last year soon after the Presidential elections, I wrote an article in this paper entitled "The legend and his comparable wife" and in that article I wrote that "The First Lady has really managed to present herself as The Mother of the Nation and the way she complemented the President clearly showed that she understood the arduous task at hand."

Indeed, everyone who watched the First Lady during the election campaigns can testify that she really managed to complement the President. She started this way back in 2008 during the presidential run-off rallies.

In an interview with the then Deputy Editor of The Sunday Mail, Nomsa Nkala, in June 2012, the First Lady said: "Ahh…nyika yanga yaenda. So I decided I could not watch things take the direction that had not been anticipated and I had to play my part as a citizen of this country . . .

"I was just doing it because I realised that I had a duty also to talk to the people, make them understand and tell them that whatever they were promised (by MDC) they were being fooled and all this vilification, especially of the First Family, is because of the land . . .

"I am not saying I want to engage in politics, but for people to confront me and say I want to run for Presidency just because I am campaigning for my party is wrong. Who has the right more than me to talk about my country?"

Even though she said she didn't want to engage in politics, slowly the politician in her was coming out and at one point MDC-T leader Tsvangirai got a sting from her.

Last year during the campaigns for the July 31 elections at a rally at Nzvimbo High School, she thundered: "I want to repeat what I said in 2008. Ndakataura kuti kuState House hakuna vacancy. Ngazvinzwisisike izvozvo. Tsvangirai akaenda achinyunyuta kuti VaMugabe mukadzi wenyu ati kuState House hakuna vacancy zvino nanhasi ngoma ndiyo ndiyo. Hakuna vacancy kuState House. Tichiriko full time and ndinoziva kuti imimi mune confidence nemutungamiri wenyu ndiye wamunoda kuti arambe ari muState House."

As she evolved into a politician, the First Lady still had time for charity work and going through her file of newspaper cuttings from 1996, I came across 184 The Herald and The Sunday Mail articles where she donated money, foodstuffs and different items to the needy.

Who would ever forget the role that Amai Mugabe played in raising funds for Graciano Masawuso when he needed to go to South Africa for a kidney transplant?

In addition, she has managed to build an orphanage that looks like a five-star hotel and a school in Mazowe. And she remains a mother and wife.

Sometimes you really wonder where she gets the energy and time to juggle all these demanding responsibilities.

On December 9 2012, she said: "I was very young when I started living with President Mugabe, but he was patient with me and took time to groom me into the woman that I am now . . . Every day I make it a point to thank VaMugabe for making me the First Lady of Zimbabwe. There are a lot of beautiful women in Zimbabwe, but he chose me, a village girl, and made me his wife."

And the President also expressed his appreciation for the changes the First Lady has brought into his life in an interview with a South African journalist.

Looking straight into her eyes during the interview, the President said: "And I value her, I value the transformation that you brought to my life and the kids that you gave me and the happiness that they brought and the happiness you brought, and I remain very grateful for that.

"And that is why sometimes perhaps when you tend to be angry with me or perhaps I've not acted as quickly as you thought I should on certain matters, I have not reacted, I just kept quiet and allowed that to win." What a sweet message!

As the First Lady plunges into national politics, she should know the camera lenses will be on her, she should know the media scrutiny will intensify and she should know there are many political landmines.

She needs to tread carefully, but then after so many years living with the political grandmaster, she must have become a little master of some sort.