BULAWAYO – GRACA Machel was motivated by ârevengeâ in her criticism of former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, more than outrage over his political and economic policies, newly declassified United States intelligence documents claim.
Mugabe, claims a March 2009 memo by the Defence Intelligence Agency, had âadamantly refusedâ to marry the widow of the former Mozambican President Samora Machel several years earlier and she âhad it inâ for the Zimbabwean leader.
Graca eventually married South Africaâs first black President Nelson Mandela, although Mandela had not been âkeen on the ideaâ.
The claims are contained in âThe Mandela Filesâ, a cache of declassified intelligence memos obtained by the United States organisation, Property of the People, after a court battle.
Property of the People said the documents âuncover the extent of U.S. intelligence agency efforts to surveil and subvert Nelson Mandela and the anti-Apartheid movement.â
The documents cover intelligence files about Mandela written by the FBI, CIA, DIA, and NSA â who had initially refused Property of the Peopleâs initial Freedom of Information Act request for the files.
The Graca Machel memo, under the subject, âGraca Machel and Robert Mugabe â A woman scorned gets her revenge?â, is one of hundreds of files now put online by Property of the People.
It came after The Elders â a grouping of elder statesmen â had been denied entry in Zimbabwe where they hoped to broker a compromise deal between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after disputed elections.
Graca, widowed by the 1986 death of her husband in a plane crash, was particularly critical of Mugabe and called for him to leave power.
“Any government who goes out and assaults its own citizens, its own people, has lost completely any kind of legitimacy,” said Machel in January of 2009.
But American intelligence, it would appear, thought there was more to her fury than concern for human rights and democracy.
The memo claims: âGraca Machelâs enmity toward Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is not entirely motivated by her morale (sic) outrage over his handling of Zimbabwean affairs or the governmentâs refusal to allow her and âThe Eldersâ to visit. Much of her enmity comes from his refusal to marry her when previously asked.â
The memo claims that âconversations took place several years ago among regional leaders on what to do with Graca? Graca, as the deceased Mozambican President Samora Machelâs widow, was considered the most important widow in the region and it was considered an obligation that someone at her level take her on.â
Mugabe had lost his wife, Sally Hayfron, in 1992 to a kidney ailment. He married his secretary Grace Marufu in 1996.
When offered Graca, Mugabe had âadamantly refused and made disparaging remarks about her that made it to Graca.â
âSince then, Graca has had it in for Mugabe and her service as one of âThe Eldersâ gave her the perfect opportunity to get her revenge.
âAfter Mugabe turned Graca down, the regional leaders approached the then South African President Nelson Mandela who begrudgingly accepted the proposal. Mandela was not keen on the idea, but acquiesced due to a sense of obligation.â
Mandela married Graca Machel in 1998.