via I’ve army, police and goodies: Grace – NewZimbabwe 19/11/2015
FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe is ready to “use the army and police” in her projects and programs across the country to make sure donations are not abused.
President Robert Mugabe’s wife told Zanu PF supporters during a rally in Mbare that she will use the army to distribute her goodies.
“I have a lot of things for you and you will eat until you call my name,” Grace gushed before howls of “they will be stolen” reverberated from the audience.
To this Grace responded: “Ok I have heard you and I know what you are talking about.
“I have a dedicated team of police and soldiers who will deal with that issue. They will be on the ground to make sure everyone gets something. Isn’t you have all had your names taken down?
“Then you should not worry I have a lot of things for you and I will make sure all of you will get something.”
The First Lady has been on a second round of a whirlwind tour of the country’s provinces following a similar tour that preceded the sacking of ex-Vice President Joice Mujuru last year.
Mugabe’s acerbic wife has come under fire for abusing state resources including farming equipment provided by the Brazilian government through a $90 million government-to-government agreement.
The issue has raised political temperatures in the national assembly with opposition MPs demanding an explanation from Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa last month stuttered as he tried to explain the rationale of having the First Lady distributing government resources. The Vice-President claimed Grace was “only assisting government departments and this issue is beyond the realm of Parliament”.
However, the MDC-T has threatened to go to court to “stop Grace’s abuse of state resources and institutions.
Over the years, the opposition has accused Mugabe of abusing state institutions in particular the security services to prop-up his tottering government.
Mugabe’s Zanu PF is stuck in the throes of debilitating internal struggle for power and the veteran ruler’s lieutenants look beyond the 91-year-old.
Revelations by Grace that she already has a “secret group” made up of the country’s security services could be a pointer to a possible bloody fight for power ahead.
Grace has been identified as a possible successor to Mugabe and media reports have consistently claimed she has of late been at loggerheads with VP Mnangagwa long seen as Mugabe’s heir apparent.
The First Lady also lashed out at unidentified war veterans leader who she said wanted to “gag me”.
“I am Mugabe’s wife and you cannot silence me. If you want come with your own war veterans and I will come with mine and we will see,” Grace declared.
There have been reports that a group within Zanu PF going by the moniker Generation 40 (G40) fiercely opposed to Mnangagwa’s ascendency is mooting forming its own group of veterans of the liberation struggle.
The current group led by Christopher Mutsvangwa, who doubles up as cabinet minister responsible for the former fighters, is a virtual appendage of the country’s military after its congress was hijacked by the army following the sacking of former leader Jabulani Sibanda.
COMMENTS
This is like a bunch of school kids – certainly not leadership material to be taken seriously. She is there by the grace of her association with the chief thief and murderer
How Mugabe has fallen – from the popular leader of 1980, husband to “mama Mugabe” who appealed to people’s hearts and minds – to the feared husband of this apparition who promises; “I have a lot of things for you and you will eat until you call my name..”