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Zimbabwe's Grace Mugabe Regains Prominence for Husband

Associated Press

   HARARE, ZIMBABWE - The controversy swirling around the burial of
   Zimbabwe's founding leader, Robert Mugabe, centers on his widow, Grace,
   who has remained dramatically cloaked behind a heavy black veil as she
   succeeded in getting the country's president to scrap his plans for the
   ex-leader to be buried in a simple plot alongside other national heroes
   and instead build a grand new mausoleum for her husband.

   Known as a strong-willed woman with political ambitions, Grace Mugabe
   has made the most of her role as the grieving widow -- and some in
   Zimbabwe think she is using the issue to reassert herself as a force to
   be reckoned with in the country.

   When the 54-year-old Grace objected to the funeral plans for Mugabe,
   who died last week at 95, President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to her
   palatial 25-bedroom residence in Harare's posh Borrowdale suburb to
   consult her about how the interment should proceed. He departed saying
   he would respect her wishes and scrapped his funeral plans.

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