The post of deputy president in Zimbabwe has become a poisoned chalice, following this week’s sacking — for the second time in three years — of a deputy president serving under President Robert Mugabe. His latest show of hand has left little to the imagination on how he intends to manage the prickly succession question that has plagued his Zanu (PF) party for years. His wife, Grace Mugabe, has now emerged from the shadows to assume an unassailable lead in the race for the highest office. Critics have denounced this as nothing short of a "Mugabe dynasty" being stitched together by the veteran ruler, who turns 94 next February. Grace launched her short political career in August 2014 when she became head of the Zanu (PF) Women’s League, and has been controversial since. She has caused offence, has been acerbic in attacks that claimed political casualties, and has watched over the severance of political ties built up by her husband during the days of the liberation struggle. The most s...

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