There can be no doubt that majority of enlightened women in Zimbabwe, nay in Africa, are heaving sighs of relief at the exit of Mrs. Grace Mugabe. It is like saying Good riddance to rubbish. Fresh wind is blowing in the land. A new First Lady has come to town, nay, to the State House.
Auxillia Mnangagwa is the wife of the interim President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa. In 2014, she was elected to become a Member of Parliament representing Chirumhanzu-Zibagwe constituency. The parliamentary seat she currently occupies fell vacant following her husband’s elevation to the post of Vice President that same year.
It was then that Mrs. Mnangagwa ran unopposed in the ZANU-PF primary elections after two other contestants pulled out of the race. Violet Nhare, ZANU-PF provincial commissar for the Women’s League, and Erasmus Chaya, the deputy national Secretary for Transport in the Youth League, were reported to have withdrawn from the race out of respect for Mrs. Mnangagwa.
The First Lady, a woman of virtue, is humble and thinks of other people first, according to those who know her. Those who stay near their Sherwood Farm on the outskirts of Kwekwe heap praises on her as she has exhibited the highest level of good neighborliness.
Despite the fact that her husband, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, had been holding the post of Vice-President of Zimbabwe since 2014, she has carried herself in a manner that only servant-leaders do. It is that natural feeling that one wants to serve, that has made her the darling of many who know her.
One of Mrs. Mnangagwa’s former neighbours, Mrs. Perseverance Zhou, described the First Lady as a successful farmer who loves to share notes with her neighbours and a humble woman who attends every event in the neighbourhood including children’s birthday parties. “If you invite her to your child’s birthday party, she would come and join you in the celebrations,” Mrs. Zhou said.
She said Mrs. Mnangagwa is a hard worker who pushes for women’s empowerment at all times. At public gatherings she used to tell women to work hard without waiting for their husbands to do it for them. Mrs. Zhou declared that the First Lady was known to have worked very hard in her constituency especially on matters concerning the uplift of women. According to her, the first lady opened a bank for women in Chirumanzu where women can borrow money to start self-help projects”.
Another close associate of the new First Lady, Mrs. Violet Nhari described Auxillia as a hard worker who is sociable. She said every person in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituency has Mrs. Mnangagwa’s mobile phone number and people can call her any time.
“There are some MPs who if called on the phone, would first want to know how you got their number. But Mrs. Mnangagwa is totally different, her phone is not a secret and any person can call her at any time. She is very open-minded and always strives to unite people. She has a unique way of resolving differences when they arise especially from among the women folk,” she said.
