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- Grace Mugabe with ‘Tyson’.
Zanu PF officials have questioned the motives of first lady Grace Mugabe over her close association with party commissar and local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, who is facing charges of plotting to overthrow president Robert Mugabe.
Zanu PF provincial executives across the country unanimously voted in favour of removing Kasukuwere from his party and government positions, accusing him of tampering with party structures in an effort to dethrone Mugabe.
Senior party sources blamed Grace Mugabe for her relationship with Kasukuwere, a member of the G40 faction which she is accused of heading as she angles to succeed her husband ahead of party favourite and front-runner vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Mrs Mugabe was naïve to link herself with people who have now turned out to be enemies of her husband and who want to remove him from office by crooked means. It is now apparent that Kasukuwere and his colleagues like Jonathan Moyo used the first lady to get close to the president to advance their evil agenda. Suppose they had assassinated him?” said a source, claiming that the first lady was being watched.
Grace Mugabe has also come under fire over her public statements denouncing Mnangagwa and military generals whom she accused of plotting to kill her husband and family in a speech broadcast on national television. The sources said Mnangagwa and the generals came close to resigning their government positions following Grace Mugabe’s televised tantrums.
Senior ruling party members want Mugabe to reign in his wife and stop her from sponsoring factions and disrupting party activities. However, they note that Mugabe has already admitted in public that he cannot control her.
“The issue is that Gushungo (Mugabe’s totem) is just a man and like most other men, he has a problem dealing with his wife. He admitted as much in Masvingo. But the issue is, if Zanu PF wants to survive, it will have to take action against Mrs Mugabe and remind her that she is only the head of the women’s league and nothing else in the party,” said a source.
Grace Mugabe has been accused of overstepping her mandate in her desperation to succeed her 93 year-old husband, who is facing poor health. The first lady is accused of usurping her husband’s powers and making cabinet and party appointments, according to Temba Mliswa, who was sacked as chairman of Mugabe’s home province.
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