Robert Mugabe asks ‘Gucci Grace’ to step back from succession race
Harare — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has moved to rein in his wife’s ambition to succeed him, after the country’s intelligence chief warned that her campaign may stoke political violence and opposition from within the military, three members of the ruling party’s politburo said. Mugabe asked his wife Grace to tone down her public criticism of veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war, who have supported the president since he took power in 1980, and back her main rival, Deputy President Emmerson Mnangagwa, according to the politburo members, who asked not to be named because they are not authorised to speak publicly on the matter. While Mugabe, 93, is Zanu (PF)’s presidential candidate for elections due next year, he has grown increasingly frail and may not be able to see out another five-year term. The intensifying battle over succession comes at a time when Zimbabwe, once one of Africa’s richest countries, faces deepening unrest over widespread unemployment, the collapse of b...
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