Harare - President Robert Mugabe Saturday officially declared his wife Grace head of his powerful women's movement, a position many believe she will use as a stepping stone to higher political office.
Crowds shouted: “Amai, amai” (mother, mother) as Grace, wearing traditional party regalia, said the appointment was “an honour for my family.”
She addressed her husband directly saying: “I wish to assure you, Comrade President, that I shall truly, faithfully lead the women's league from the front”, a Sapa correspondent reported.
“I can only hope to grow and strengthen this women's league,” the 49-year-old former typist said.
Shaking Grace's hand Mugabe said he “declared (her) appointed secretary for women's affairs in ZANU-PF” and kissed his wife.
Grace Mugabe, a mother of four, had no role in politics until she was nominated to lead the women's league in July.
She married the president in 1996 after the birth of the couple's first two children. She runs an extensive dairy farm and an orphanage in the Mazowe district of central Zimbabwe.
With a touch of cynicism, locals call her “Dr Amai”, in a reference to a PhD she was controversially awarded from the University of Zimbabwe in September, less than three months after she was first reported to have enrolled for the degree.
The party chairman Simon Khaya Moyo said Grace Mugabe had been “anointed”, adding: “Comrades I think we need a bigger applause than that.”
Sapa