Just "nationalized" by Robert Mugabe in 2016, the process by which the Mugabes have historically arranged larger cuts for themselves, Marange last released 300 000 carats for sale in 2014. Like all else the Mugabes have touched in their long and ugly run, including the mansion in which they are now being slow-roasted, the Marange fields, touted as one of the richest African diamond finds of the last century, will remain a coveted piece on Zimbabwe's new political chessboard.
Around the officially-sanctioned protests against Mugabe in central Harare – unthinkable a month ago – rumors are rife that Mrs. Mugabe's in-country shopping days are numbered, whether for farms, houses, or, in fact, for fashion.
Her political associates, mostly younger cabinet ministers of her faction within the ruling party, remain at this writing under arrest.
Mugabe's sacking by his own party and his flailing valedictory speech on November 19th, before, facing certain impeachment, he officially resigned via letter forty-eight hours later, were simply the denouement of a dictatorship blowing apart at the seams.
It was symbiotic self-destruction on a Shakespearean level: Grace Mugabe was an extreme political liability that Robert Mugabe, in his dotage, did not realize that he could not carry. Her fiery political ambition to succeed him, the ultimate luxury she could not attain, did them both in.
Now, the best that the Mugabes can hope for in the coming days is a cobbled-together form of immunity. In any case, as Mrs. Mugabe stews on her well-earned fate in the Blue Roof, she will do well to pack a few of her treasured Ferragamos and her jewelry cases for the long haul. If she's allowed that.
It's thought that the generals and/or their proxies will shortly invite her out of the country, perhaps to her own homes in Malaysia, Hong Kong, or Singapore. Where, if all goes well for her in the next weeks and she's allowed to retain access to the money that the couple has reportedly secreted in Switzerland and elsewhere, she'll still just be able to feather her nest with plenty of luxury shopping.
Amid Harare's semi-controlled political chaos, one fact seems increasingly clear: the architects of the changes, and the people of Zimbabwe, are thinking that Grace Mugabe is a luxury that they can no longer afford.- Forbes Magazine
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