Queen mother, sent by God?

via Queen mother, sent by God? 14 October 2014 by Jera

Grace also declared herself to be some sort of messiah, placed in the midst of mere mortals to put an end to Zanu (PF) infighting. “God sent me for a purpose. To end these machinations and factional fights,” she said.

Mrs Mugabe criticised vote buying. And soon after she gave out bags of grain. When the first lady gives out free maize, it is an act of philanthropy and not vote buying.

Oppah Muchinguri, who is said to have once been in a public catfight with Grace, has emerged as the first lady’s praise singer. At the Masvingo rally, Oppah made a royalty reference – ‘Queen Mother’ – as is the now the norm in Zanu (PF). In addition to sinking to a new low in bootlicking Muchinguri, who recently threw that ‘husband burner’ barb, once again made snide remarks that seemed to have been aimed at VP Joice Mujuru.

“There were some people eyeing the presidency. We outwitted them. We decided to bring in the Queen Mother, so that she could lead us, thereby blocking those that had leadership aspirations.”

Muchinguri seemed rather pleased with her handiwork, referring to the grand scheme as ‘tingoringo,’ a word which is as made-up as it is meaningless.

In attendance was the schemer-in-chief, Emmerson Mnangagwa. The justice minister is widely believed to be the man behind the plot to usurp the presidency from Mujuru, who until now appeared to be frontrunner. If pushing Grace into the political limelight is intended to block Mujuru, it is still not clear how Mnangagwa will achieve his own presidential ambitions.

Perhaps it is a case of ‘if I can’t have the top office, then neither will Mujuru.’ While the takeover plot may still be murky, what is clear is that the smear campaign against Mujuru indicates the extent to which the Mnangagwa camp is intimidated by her.