Grace Mugabe and a 'number of others' to be prosecuted in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF officials say

Grace Mugabe, the wife of Zimbabwe's president, is to be prosecuted along with a "number of others", a Zanu PF official has said.

The party accused her of "preaching hate, divisiveness and assuming roles and powers not delegated to the office." She was also removed as head of the women's league.

News of her prosecution came after her husband, Robert Mugabe, was dismissed as the head of the ruling Zanu-PF party and replaced by the deputy he fired earlier this month.

Emmerson Mnangawa will take over as leader of the party, Chris Mutsvangwa, the chairman of the Zimbabwe War Veterans Association confirmed.

Mr Mutsvangwa also said the party was beginning the process to remove Mr Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe, 93, remains president of Zimbabwe, after calls for him to resign following the military takeover on 15 November, but he has been given until Monday to resign or face impeachment.

At Zanu-PF's Central Committee meeting, Obert Mpofu, minister of home affairs who chaired the group, said Mrs Mugabe was to blame for taking "advantage" of the leader, Al Jazeera reported.

Mr Mpofu said: "Mugabe's wife and her close associates have taken advantage of his frail condition and abused the resources of the country."

Ms Mugabe, 52, has not been seen since the takeover and is believed to be under house arrest in Harare.

A controversial figure known as “Gucci Grace” over her spending habits, she had been positioning herself as a successor to her husband and had been calling for the removal of Mr Mnangawa for weeks.

The couple, who now have three children, married in a lavish ceremony in 1996 after having an affair while Mr Mugabe was still married to his first wife, Sally, who was terminally ill at the time.

At the time, Mrs Mugabe had been working at a typist for Mr Mugabe.

She was named head of the Zanu-PF women’s league in 2014 and had been tipped to become Vice President next month.