15 Facts About Sally Mugabe

Sarah Francesca Mugabe was the first wife of Robert Mugabe and the First Lady of Zimbabwe from 1987 until her death in 1992.

Sally Mugabe went to Achimota School, then went on to university to study before qualifying as a teacher.

Sally Mugabe met her future husband, Robert Mugabe, in the Gold Coast at Takoradi Teacher Training College where they were both teaching, and went with him to Southern Rhodesia, where they were married in April 1961 in Salisbury.

Sally Mugabe was charged with sedition and sentenced to five years imprisonment.

In 1963 Sally Mugabe gave birth to their only son, Nhamodzenyika, in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

Sally Mugabe, who was being held in detention, was prevented from attending the burial of his son.

In 1967, Sally Mugabe went into exile in London, where she studied and work in a range of jobs including as secretary to Margaret Feeny, first Director of the Africa Centre, Covent Garden, and Race Relations Clerk with the Runnymede Trust.

Sally Mugabe's stay in Britain was financed, at least in part, by the British Ariel Foundation.

Sally Mugabe spent the next eight years agitating and campaigning for the release of political detainees in Rhodesia, including her husband who had been arrested in 1964 and was to remain incarcerated for ten years.

Sally Mugabe was prevented from attending the burial of his son.

Sally Mugabe officially became the First Lady of Zimbabwe in 1987 when her husband became the second President of Zimbabwe.

Sally Mugabe was elected Secretary General of the ZANU-PF Women's League at the Party's Congress of 1989.

Sally Mugabe launched the Zimbabwe Women's Cooperative in the UK in 1986 and supported Akina Mama wa Afrika, a London-based African women's organisation focusing on development and women's issues in Africa and the United Kingdom.

Sally Mugabe died on 27 January 1992 of kidney failure.

Sally Mugabe is remembered fondly with love and affection, as she is still considered the founding mother of the nation of Zimbabwe.