President's wife Grace Mugabe takes over Zimbabwe

Baku. 24 December. REPORT.AZ/ Robert Mugabe has lost his grip on power and been replaced by his wife, Grace Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader has claimed, Report informs referring to The Guardian.

Morgan Tsvangirai said that the 91-year-old president’s wife is now effectively in charge after a “palace coup”, and that the government has been paralysed as members of the ruling party jockey for position.

“No one in government is thinking of solutions to the national challenges as everyone is preoccupied with issues of who will succeed this tired man steering the ship of state,” Tsvangirai was quoted by South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper as saying.

Grace Mugabe has been an increasingly prominent presence on Zimbabwe’s political scene in recent months, taking up a key post in the ruling party last December and going around the country addressing rallies and handing out gifts.

Her aggressive statements against those she deems insufficiently loyal to her husband come at a time when Africa’s oldest leader is looking increasingly frail.

The famously austere Mugabe has long been in robust physical and mental condition, but several mishaps in recent months have sent tongues wagging.