MOST of the focus was on the ‘mother-of-all’ parties as Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe celebrated turning 91 last weekend, but largely ignored outside in all the festivities was a scene-setting interview that addressed much of the debate and conjecture around two women who have over the last year defined his presidency.

In the Thursday interview with state-owned broadcaster ZTV, Mugabe addressed the roles of First Lady Grace Mugabe and fallen vice president Joice Mujuru, who had been at the centre of a power struggle that saw his wife, a former secretary, shove out her respected liberation war hero rival.

It does not quite get there literally, but there are echoes of Petruchio’s psychological tempering of the aggressive Katherine Minola into an obedient, honey-tongued wife in William Shakespeare’s controversial The Taming of the Shrew play. Only in Mugabe’s case, he manages to bring to heel one powerful strong-willed woman, while he clears the way for another whom he long-conquered romantically. 

The play makes many squeam over misogynist comments, but they have very much featured in Zimbabwe. “We are experiencing it for the first time in Zanu PF. . . And for that matter it’s a woman who says she wants to lead,” Mugabe said in December, in reference to Mujuru’s perceived posturing.

In the interview, Mugabe sought to reassert his iron-fist control over the southern Africa country of 14 million, dismissing skepticism of his advancing age and the rising political stature of his wife. 

No power behind the throne

Some have suggested Grace is now the one calling the shots in both government and the ruling party. The veteran leader came in quickly to set the record straight, quashing speculation that he was no longer in charge.

“She (Grace) is not the power behind my throne, she has come into politics in her own right,” Mugabe said of his wife who entered into politics during the last quarter of last year, immediately going on the offensive by accusing Mujuru and her allies of a sensational plot to topple her husband from power.

The party’s Women’s League nominated her to be their leader, and she went on to be appointed to the post by her husband at the party’s elective congress in December. 

While many see her meteoric rise only through the lenses of a higher political power, Mugabe insisted the First Lady was not running the show, and that she is in her current party position to advance the interests of women.

Mugabe denied his wife had become influential, maintaining he was still fully in charge of both government and the party he has led since 1980. “She has not come yet into the real part of things and is not strong enough yet,” he said. An interesting choice of words; suggesting that when Grace is strong enough, then she will get into the “real part of things”.

A political puzzle

The veteran leader continues to astound many over how he has managed to remain in power for so long. 

At independence from Britain in 1980, many black Zimbabweans sung “Long live Comrade Mugabe” in praise of their icon who had led an armed struggle to liberate them from colonialism. 

Mugabe, who was then a 56-year-old Prime Minister, had joined other leaders of the Frontline States of Southern Africa- a grouping of formerly five independent states which fought for total independence in the region. 

Mugabe has since outlived most of his contemporaries both in terms of age and length in office. In Africa, only Angola’s Jose Eduardo dos Santos and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea have served longer than him, and only by some months.

“There are no indications that the president would retire and I don’t foresee that happening. I think Zimbabwe is likely to have him as president until nature takes its course but it’s important for both domestic and international players to focus on life after Mugabe,” political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya said. 

In February 2014, Mugabe said he would retire when the time came, but only if his party was strong. “When the day comes and I retire, yes, sure the day will come, but I do not want to leave my party in tatters. I want to leave it intact.” 

In December 2014, he dispelled all notions of an “early” retirement when he told veterans of the country’s liberation war that he would not retire any time soon.  “I am never going to retire,” he was quoted as saying. “I will go when death takes me.”

Mugabe has continued to suppress debate on his retirement and in December fired his deputy, Mujuru, and several cabinet ministers and their deputies on allegations of attempting to remove him from power through unconstitutional means, including an assassination plot. 

So far, the allegations against Mujuru and her allies remain unproven, but there are fears that the purge will continue.

In the twilight

Media researcher and human rights activist Rashweat Mukundu said factionalism remained in the party, largely driven by the fact that Mugabe was now 91 years old “and in the twilight of his political career”. 

“If Mugabe suppresses a healthy contest for power, then his party won’t survive his departure,” said Mukundu. 

Given Mugabe’s advanced age, the focus should now be on restructuring the governance and economic sectors of the state and reduce the fixation with him, said Ruhanya.

Mugabe acknowledged that factionalism was still rife in his party even after firing Mujuru. He said that while Emmerson Mnangagwa, her replacement, had also led another faction, the mistake made by the Mujuru faction had been to become power hungry to the extent of plotting to unconstitutionally remove him from power.

Hand in hand

“We have not addressed factionalism as it had existed,” Mugabe said, adding the party was yet to finish addressing the scourge. He said over-ambition had destroyed Mujuru who “did not want to bide her time to see the president either retire or die”. 

He added that the former VP was foolish to think that because she had attained a PhD she was now fit to be President, saying such things did not count - only capacity and experience did.

While Mugabe is obviously in the twilight of his political career, that of Grace has taken a new shine, with high prospects of landing a cabinet position in his government after she was elevated to the position of secretary for women’s affairs in the party’s Politburo (the highest decision-making body outside congress).

The First Lady became the de facto Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development after the position was left vacant when Mugabe made new Cabinet appointments. She is now seen as the most powerful woman in the country and is thought to be harbouring ambitions of becoming Minister of Defence. 

Many analysts, however, still believe that while she is Mugabe’s pillar of strength, she is only as powerful as he is alive, and once expressed fears that some people wanted to deal with her in the event of her husband’s demise.

The First Lady now often walks hand in hand with her husband, ostensibly to strengthen his gait. And as the grandiose birthday bash was thrown in his honour, many loyalists will continue to sing “Long live Comrade Mugabe”. 

They have since declared him the party’s presidential candidate in the 2018 elections when he turns 94. Now he has to get there.