Opinion / Columnist
Grace Mugabe exposed speculators
31 Jul 2015 at 10:06hrs | Views
Once again, the First Lady, Dr Grace Mugabe, has put paid to speculations that were doing rounds in rumour mongering mills of the private media about her political ambitions.
Only recently, President Mugabe exposed other speculations that were peddled in the same media when he appointed Cde Nyasha Chikwinya as the Minister of Women, Gender and Community Development, a ministry that detractors ruminated that it was being reserved for the First Lady. That was not to be and the First Lady pointed out clearly that she was not interested in a cabinet post.
Indeed, she was very sincere in saying this because she has all the ministerial merits. There is nothing that could have stopped her from becoming one for she is far much better than certain people in the cabinet. The First Lady bared out her thoughts on politics during her recent birthday celebrations. She told the whole nation, if not the entire world, that she was not eyeing the presidency neither did she had presidential ambitions. The private and international media have been awash with gibberish that suggested that the President was grooming his wife for the presidency.
Now that she has set the record straight, what is next for these peddlers of lies and prophets of doom? In any case, there is no law in Zimbabwe that prohibit her, as the First Lady, from seeking election as president, let alone any political office. She is a Zimbabwean citizen who, like anyone else, has constitutional rights to seek for any political office.
The constitution of Zimbabwe part 2 Section 91 subsection (1) (a)-(b) says: "A person qualifies for election as President or Vice President if he or she is a Zimbabwean citizen by birth, has attained the age of forty years, is ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe and is registered as a voter."
Not that I am lobbying the First Lady to throw her hat in the ring but only that detractors must know that she is Zimbabwean who meets the prerequisites for the presidential office. She is a registered voter, a resident Zimbabwean, and she is 10 years above the constitutional age limit. Therefore, there is nothing whatsoever that can prohibit her from joining the presidential race as long as people support her.
However, we respect her decision to stay away from the presidential race and concentrate on women issues and her charitable projects. I personally wish if children's affairs can come under her jurisdiction in the politburo.
Nevertheless, Zimbabwe needs people of her calibre for the top office in the country. Like her husband, she is development oriented, which is what this country needs most in the face of the illegal sanctions that have devastated our country. She is philanthropist, a rare attribute that will pay dividend to this country. It will be a blessing in abundance for a country to have a big-hearted leader.
The birthday celebrations of the First Lady also exposed people who are always blind to good things but are quick to point at faults. The private media and other detractors slated the celebrations that they referred to as lavish. They wanted to give an impression that the First Lady was hosting the celebrations for personal benefits.
The First Lady keeps several orphans at her Mazowe children's home and she is a patron of many other similar homes in Zimbabwe. The money she realised at the dinner will be channelled towards these homes. The funny part of it is that some of the people who are making the noise are the ones who sired and dumped or neglected the children that the First Lady is looking after.
There are many well-heeled people in this country but the idea of extending a helping hand to the needy and vulnerable section of the community never crossed their minds. Even the principal of these detractors, at one time, was very moneyed but never thought of adopting even a single orphan. Instead, he ‘adopted' women, most of whom were gold diggers.
That principal lived large in a sea of poverty. He could afford a trip to New York to celebrate his belated birthday. He gave his newfound lover an open cheque to spend as she pleased. He could afford to pay US$36 000 in bride price for a wife, whom he later divorced and paid US$300 000 in an out of court settlement.
In a country that was economically bleeding, that principal afforded to buy a US$40 000-kitchen unit for a girl friend whom he later took for a wife. The same people, who try to play ignorance as an excuse to attack a noble cause, never censured that level of profligacy by their extravagant principal.
Source - John Sigauke
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