The power of a First Lady - Zimbabwe Part III

Grace Mugabe’s contribution to the economic and financial decline of her country, during her tenure as First Lady, has taken various forms. She stole from the coffers of civil servants under the pay-for your house scheme in order to build her infamous “Gracelands” in Borrowdale, a wealthy suburb of Harare. The “Gracelands” is an extravagantly constructed palace that caused controversy in the country. The palace was later sold to the late Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. The second palace was completed in 2007 and was said to have been a gift to Robert Mugabe from ZANU-PF in gratitude for his political service. It was reported to have cost $26 million. She also built a lavish home for her parents in their hometown of Chivhu.

In 2002 Grace grabbed farm property previously owned by John and Eva Matthews, for herself and her family. She also owns property in Malaysia where the family frequently vacations. It is alleged that she intended to move to Malaysia with her children to escape the stress of leadership and to address fears of assassination. The Daily Telegraph called her “notorious at home for her profligacy” in the 2003 coverage of a shopping trip to Paris. She reportedly spent about $120,000 in the shopping spree. The EU has instituted sanctions banning Grace Mugabe and her husband from traveling to participating countries. The United States has instituted similar restrictions.

Besides her involvement in corruption scandals and her sinfully lavish and extravagant shopping, Grace also has her dirty linen washed in public. She has had three known extra-marital affairs as First Lady. The latest sexual scandal was with a close friend and ally of Robert Mugabe, Gideon Gono. Each man who has been accused of "consensually messing” with the First Lady has met a sudden fatal accident or fled the country.

Grace Mugabe has not only destroyed the lives of Zimbabweans but she has made it difficult for her own daughter to attend school overseas. Riots broke out at the University of Zimbabwe campus with student demonstrations outside the Embassy of China. They were demanding that Bona Mugabe should return home and study under the same pathetic conditions as her peers. The University of Hong Kong has distanced itself from this controversy although the situation has caused the family to seek help in keeping their daughter safe while in Hong Kong.

This is the legacy of Grace Mugabe.


Source: Wikipedia
                Zimeye

The power of a First Lady - Zimbabwe Part II

In my previous post, “The power of a First Lady – Africa Part I”, Grace Mugabe was briefly discussed including her impact as a First Wife. Considering the appalling economic, political and social conditions Zimbabwe is facing it is only fair to dedicate a page on Grace’s contribution to this apology of a nation.

First Lady Grace Mugabe was President Mugabe’s secretary. She was married to Stanley Goreraza, a former air force pilot now working in the Zimbabwe Embassy in China. While married to Officer Goreraza, Grace became Mugabe’s mistress forcing her husband to divorce her. As a mistress to Mugabe, Grace was less influential than Sally, his first wife.

While Sally’s record spans the whole spectrum of economic and political development, Grace’s major contribution is that she bore Robert Mugabe children in his old age. As a younger woman than Sally, Grace has considerable influence over Mugabe and shamelessly manipulates him. This affair weakened Mugabe’s standing within his party ZANU-PF. The party’s Leadership Code, which has been used as a check and balance on its leader, was thrown out of the window due to Grace's influence. This resulted in a great corruption stampede by the party leadership in a rush for wealth.

It is clear that Grace had one goal, to out do Sally on her influence over Mugabe. This heinous craving had Grace reverse, without delay, everything Sally had worked so hard to build. The Reconciliation of 1980 was discarded and war-veterans who were a well-disciplined section of the Zimbabwean society began making obscene demands for payment for their contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe. Without the Leadership Code, the voice of reason (Sally) and the ZANU-PF leaders overtly acquiring wealth illegally, Mugabe’s leadership position was too weak to put up a fight. He ended up paying out large sums of money to each veteran as a form of gratitude.

A free for all policy transformed the once bread basket of Southern Africa to one of the poorest countries in the world. Zimbabwe’s health and education systems that were once a marvel of the region have been completely destroyed beyond repair. The once independent and effective judicial system is now a joke and there is no rule of law. Half of the population is now living outside of Zimbabwe.

This is Mugabe’s Zimbabwe under Grace.

The power of a First Lady - Africa Part I

Janet Museveni - First Lady of Uganda

Uganda's Yoweri Museveni is no longer the favored "son" of the US. His political popularity among his former allies has dwindled and he has found himself on the defensive because of the policies that his government is implementing.

However, what most people do not know is that many of the unfavorable policies and laws being passed in Parliament are spearheaded or pushed by the First Lady.  There is no decision that President Museveni passes without first going through his wife. Janet Museveni has denied recent accusations, gathered through WikiLeaks, that she is the originator of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. However, there is no argument that she does not condone this lifestyle and has influenced her husband to make reactionary statements against the LGBT community. This First Lady ran for public office in 2008 when her husband decided not to run. He ended up running, with her support, and she was nominated and confirmed for a cabinet position in 2009.

In fairness to Mrs. Museveni, she worked on uplifting the welfare of Ugandans by proposing healthcare plans in the 1990s and fought for peace and security of children in developing countries. In 1999, she and Hillary Clinton (who then was also a First Lady) started a joint project in Uganda which helped more than 10,000 needy students with educational fees and scholastic supplies.

Grace Mugabe - First Lady of Zimbabwe

Then there is Grace Mugabe, the second wife of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe. It is said that it is only after he married Grace, his former secretary who was married to a former Air Force officer, that the country began to take a down turn. Zimbabwe was once a thriving nation led by one of the most intelligent and charismatic leaders in Africa. However, after Sally Hefron, his first wife died in 1992 of kidney failure, Mugabe married Grace and then started the idiotic policies characteristic of a mad man. Grace Mugabe was accused in 2009 of raiding the central bank vault to bank roll a family vacation in Malaysia. This was after spending $80,000 in a shopping spree in Rome the previous year while her husband was attending an UN Food and Agriculture Organization summit. In Dec. 2010, WikiLeaks cables cited her involvement in illegal diamond deals. Grace has a lavish and extravagant lifestyle in a country with such a hyper inflation rate that in 2009 it abandoned its currency. This woman influences her husband's policy decisions and unfortunately has destroyed not just the economy of Zimbabwe but the lives of thousands of people, most of whom have sought political and economic refuge in other countries.

First Ladies wield more power than we think or even know. Their word is "law and gospel" as Leymah Gbowee articulates in the video below. This is true for First Ladies around the world, even in countries where the culture demands that a woman is only to be seen and not heard.


There are First Ladies who have and have had positive influences on their husbands. These are the women that the recent Nobel Laureate, Leymah Gbowee, says should be engaged on issues affecting their countries and regions of the world.