An army coup is better than a bedroom coup- How Grace Mugabe’s power grab ended up backfiring

She is notoriously loose-lipped and prone to challenging potential political opponents in outrageous and profane public speeches.

She (and her two sons) are also brazenly profligate in a country where the economy has all but imploded.

She wears Gucci sunglasses and reportedly bought a Rolls-Royce.

She spent more than a million dollars on a diamond ring for her husband — who is sometimes referred to as “Old Bob” — and then sued the jeweler claiming inferior quality.

One son, Bellarmine, recently used Snapchat to flaunt a watch and bracelet.

"$60 000 on the wrist when your daddy run the whole country ya know!!!" he wrote.

Subsequent videos showed him pouring champagne over the watch.

Recently, she was accused of barging into a Johannesburg hotel room where her sons were hanging out with a 20-year-old South African model, Gabriella Engles.

Mugabe allegedly whipped Engles with an extension cord, scarring the model's forehead, but South Africa allowed Mugabe to return home instead of appearing before a court because it granted her diplomatic immunity.

She denies the allegations.

South Africa has long stood behind Robert Mugabe, but after today's developments, it seemed that they were cautiously preparing to deal with a new government.

South African President Jacob Zuma said he'd talked to Mugabe by phone, and reported he was “confined” but “fine.”

Rumors spread like wildfire that Grace Mugabe was not together with her husband under house arrest, but instead either on a previously organized business trip in Namibia, or that the military had allowed her to seek asylum in that neighboring country.

Those reports remained baseless into the evening.

Either way, Grace Mugabe's trademark fieriness seems to have extinguished itself.

A message widely circulated in Zimbabwe on the popular WhatsApp messaging platform contained the line, “An army coup is better than a bedroom coup.”

By Max Bearak – the Washington Post

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