Ninety-year-old Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is – quite literally – paving the way for his wife’s ascent to power. In another sign of the First Lady’s growing clout, Harare residents awoke on Tuesday to a new street, Dr Grace Mugabe Way, leading to the conference center where Africa’s oldest leader may this week anoint his chosen political successor.

The veteran former guerrilla leader, who has manned the helm of the southern African country since the end of British rule in 1980, has never said whom he would prefer to take over when he retires or dies. What little certainty there was has been blown apart this year by the meteoric political rise of his wife, a 49-year-old one-time government typist nicknamed ‘Gucci Grace’ for her reputed shopping skills. Grace’s controversial receipt of a PhD in September, scathing assaults on Vice-President Joice Mujuru and open admissions of political ambition have stirred talk Mugabe is planning to keep Zimbabwe’s leadership in the family.

Credit: Wochit