Two days ago, after a unofficial coup, intense pressure by members of his party and the international community and a former political ally turned enemy, Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe resigned after 37 years in office. His ousting was sudden but not unexpected. He was already in his 90’s, many suspected him senile and he had overstayed his welcome in a world where social justice didn’t exactly align with decades long dictatorships. However, a good number of pundits on social media have alleged that the real reason President Mugabe was quite literally chased out of office was because he was planning for his second wife, Grace Mugabe, to succeed him as president of Zimbabwe in the event that he died or eventually retired.

There is enough evidence to support this claim. Grace, who married Mugabe in 1996 after the death of his first wife, served as First Lady, a position that came to garner considerable power in their country. As the First Lady, Grace influenced public policy and waged her own private war against her enemies, her actions ignored by her dictator husband. For years, Mrs. Mugabe has systematically risen up the ranks of public office, moving through the country’s public service, allegedly silencing people who opposed her actions. In 2014, she as made the president of the Women’s Wing of the ZANU PF, the country ruling political party. As the head of the ZANU-PF, Grace went from having ceremonial powers to truly leading an important sub-sector of the population after leading a smear campaign that led to the removal of former Vice-president of Zimbabwe and rumoured successor Joice Mujuru. The removal of Mujuru and the instatement of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man who would eventually come to replace Mugabe, were the first in a chain of events that would bring to light how misogyny will always overturn class and political alliances and vilify women, even difficult ones.

In 2017, Grace Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa became embroiled in a feud that would lead to public accusations in September 2017, an accusation of poisoning by Mnangagwa. In response President Mugabe would organize a shock cabinet change to remove many perceived enemies of Grace, and in November 2017, he would eventually fire the vice-president, an act that would spiral into the palace coup and the ousting that we are facing today. While we rejoice about the instatement of Emmerson Mnangagwa as an interim president, let us not forget he is also called the ‘Crocodile’, a nickname he earned because of his cold-heartedness and his brutality in silencing civil unrest within the country.

It is pretty interesting that 37 years of tyrannical rule were not enough to oust President Mugabe who had more international sanctions against him than most dictators. The only thing that could the ZANU-PF to force president Mugabe out of the presidency and their party was the rumour that he had fired his vice-president so that Grace, who was already positioned for the role as the head of the Women’s Wing of the party, could ascend into vice-presidency and become viable to ascend into presidency following the death of Mugabe.

No one knows for sure if Grace wanted to be president, she had never publicly stated intent. But so what if she had? What is so terrifying about a woman entering a place of power, a place her husband had occupied for 37 years and misused terribly with the quiet complicity of his fellow party members at ZANU-PF and Zimbabwe as a whole. The people who have spoken have blamed Grace Mugabe for allowing Robert rule the country the way he did. Some have even gone as far as insinuating that his crimes are hers, and that her actions as a ‘jezebel’ led him astray. Even though he had already been in power several decades before he met her.

This exact scenario has happened several times, but none as documented as former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. As expected she was blamed for the actions of her husband, she was vilified for her own actions and her country tried to scapegoat her. Imelda redeemed herself, and perhaps Grace Mugabe might too. But she shouldn’t even have to account for something she didn’t do in the first place.

What does it mean that the only thing that could get a country on the brink of destruction and with more than a decade of crippling inflation to wrest their destinies into their hands was the threat of a woman ruling them?