1. Grace Ntombizodwa Mugabe is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, politician and the widow of the late President Robert Mugabe.
27 Facts About Grace Mugabe
1. 2.
Grace Mugabe served as the First Lady of Zimbabwe from 1996 until her husband's resignation in November 2017, a week after he was ousted from power.
3.
Grace Mugabe was given the nickname Gucci Grace due to her extravagance.
4.
Grace Mugabe was expelled from the party, with other G40 members, during the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'etat.
5.
Grace Mugabe was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2014.
6.
Grace Mugabe Ntombizodwa was born in Benoni, South Africa to migrant parents as the fourth of five children in the family.
7.
Grace Mugabe attended primary school in Chivhu and then the Kriste Mambo secondary school in Manicaland.
8.
Grace Mugabe married air force pilot Stanley Goreraza and they had a son, Russell Goreraza, born in 1984 when Grace was 19 years old.
9.
At the time of their marriage, Grace Marufu was 31 and Robert Mugabe was 72 years old.
10.
Grace Mugabe enrolled as an undergraduate student at the School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University in China in 2007, studying the Chinese language.
11.
Grace Mugabe admitted that she was not proficient in Chinese after finishing the degree.
12.
In late 2014, Grace Mugabe was critical of Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who allegedly plotted against her husband, President Mugabe.
13.
In November 2017, Grace Mugabe was instrumental in the firing of the then Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, after reprimanding him for causing divisions in Zanu PF.
14.
Shortly thereafter, Grace Mugabe expressed her intentions of taking up the Vice-Presidency post.
15.
Grace Mugabe was notably invisible at this time with various reports of her whereabouts.
16.
Grace Mugabe later explained that she had paid for it with her own personal savings.
17.
In 2002, Grace Mugabe toured farm properties in Zimbabwe, looking for a new location for herself and her family.
18.
Grace Mugabe chose the Iron Mask Estate, which had been previously owned by farmers John and Eva Matthews.
19.
The family owns property in Malaysia, and in early 2008, it was reported that Grace Mugabe hoped to move there with her children.
20.
Grace Mugabe acquired property holdings in Hong Kong, including a diamond cutting business and a property at Tai Po, New Territories.
21.
Grace Mugabe was reported in 2010 to be suing a Zimbabwean newspaper over its reporting of claims released by WikiLeaks that she had made "tremendous profits" from the country's diamond mines.
22.
Grace Mugabe is known for her lavish lifestyle, and Western media has nicknamed her "Gucci Grace".
23.
When Grace Mugabe was included in the 2002 sanctions, one EU parliamentarian said that the ban would "stop Grace Mugabe going on her shopping trips in the face of catastrophic poverty blighting the people of Zimbabwe".
24.
Controversy ensued when Grace Mugabe was given a doctoral degree in sociology in September 2014 from the University of Zimbabwe two months after entering the programme.
25.
Grace Mugabe was awarded the degree by her husband and University Chancellor Robert Mugabe.
26.
Grace Mugabe then joined in the attack, punching Jones repeatedly in the face while wearing diamond encrusted rings, causing him cuts and abrasions.
27.
Grace Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution 'under Chinese diplomatic rules' because of her status as Mugabe's wife.