Grace Mugabe

Grace Mugabe, Robert Mugabe’s second wife, has risen from presidential typist to the most powerful woman in Zimbabwe.

They met and had their first two of three children while Mugabe’s first wife, Sally, was terminally ill with cancer, though they only married after her death.

Her alleged appetite for extravagant shopping earned her the moniker Gucci Grace.

While her supporters point to her charitable and philanthropic work and refer to her as “Dr. Amai,” meaning “mother,” her critics accuse her of pursuing a ruthless campaign for wealth and power.

As a notable political figure close to the president, Grace has been subject to the same targeted EU and U.S. sanctions as her husband, which include a travel ban and asset freeze.

She accompanies the president on trips abroad, often visiting the Far East where they own property. Her many domestic business interests also include a dairy farm estate outside Harare, which she claimed as part of the national land reforms implemented starting in 2001.

She has a sharp tongue and last week she described her rival, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, as a “snake” which “must be hit on the head.” The next day President Mugabe sacked him.

Emmerson Mnangagwa

Until Grace Mugabe’s rise, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 71, had been viewed for several years as President Mugabe’s anointed successor.

Following military training in Egypt and China, he helped direct the liberation struggles prior to independence in 1980, spending time in jail where he was allegedly tortured. He has been in government ever since.

Thousands of civilians died in a post-independence conflict in which he played a key role as national security minister, though he denies having blood on his hands.

He is known in Zimbabwe as “ngwena” or “crocodile” (and his supporters as “Lacoste”) because of his political cunning, biding his time in the 1990s to reclaim a position of power after falling foul of Robert Mugabe and being cast into political oblivion.

Gen. Constantino Chiwenga

Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, 61, is a close ally of Mnangagwa and has led Zimbabwe’s national army since 1994.

Gen. Chiwenga was also a product of the country’s independence struggles, training with the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army in Mozambique and later rising through its ranks.

In 2002, he and 18 other close associates of President Mugabe were sanctioned by the European Union, the United States and New Zealand, including a travel ban and freeze on his foreign assets, which has been repeatedly extended. In 2003, he was promoted to commander general of the Zimbabwe combined armed forces.(SD-Agencies)