Auxillia Mnangagwa (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Kutyauripo; born 21 March 1963) is a Zimbabwean politician and has served as the

First Lady of Zimbabwe First Lady of Zimbabwe is the title held by the wife of the president of Zimbabwe. The current office holder is the wife of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Auxillia Mnangagwa, Auxillia C. Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa also held the parliamentary seat of ...

since November 2017, as the wife of President

Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa ( , ; born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as the president of Zimbabwe since 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former president Robert Mugabe, he held a series of cabin ...

. After spending over ten years at the Ministry of Manpower and Development, she joined the Prime Minister's office in 1992. She was elected as a

ZANU–PF The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years by Robert Mugabe, first as prime minister wi ...

Member of Parliament in 2015, serving for the same constituency as her husband after he became Vice-President under

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

Biography

Born on 25 March 1963 in

Mazowe Mazowe is a village in Mashonaland Central province in Zimbabwe. Notable people * John Bredenkamp * Fortune Chasi * Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo *Auxillia Mnangagwa *Grace Mugabe *Joseph Msika Joseph Wilfred Msika (6 December 1923 – 4 August 20 ...

District in

Mashonaland Central Mashonaland Central is a province of Zimbabwe. It is divided into eight districts and has an area of 28,347 km2 and a population of 1,384,891 (2012 census), representing about 9.1% of the total Zimbabwe population. It is dominated by the S ...

, Auxillia is the second child in a family of five. She was brought up on a farm in Chiweshe where she attended primary and secondary school. Her parents divorced when she was in Grade 3. After completing a secretarial course at

Silveira House Silveira House is a Jesuit centre for religious training and education located in Chishawasha, on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe. Founded in 1964, it is named after Gonçalo da Silveira, the first Jesuit priest to come to Zimbabwe in the 16th c ...

Chishawasha Chishawasha is the name of a Roman Catholic Jesuit mission located about 25 km east of Harare, Zimbabwe. The mission was founded by the Jesuit priest Father Francis Richartz in 1892 on a large farm. The mission has 3 schools - Chishawasha Pri ...

, in 1981, she worked for the Ministry of Manpower and Development under

Edgar Tekere Edgar Zivanai Tekere (1 April 1937 – 7 June 2011), nicknamed "2 Boy", was a Zimbabwean politician. He was the second and last Secretary General of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) who organised the party during the Lancaster House t ...

. She entered politics in 1982, eventually rising to the politburo. From 1992, she was assigned to the Prime Minister's office, joining the

Central Intelligence Organisation The Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is the national intelligence agency of Zimbabwe. It was conceived as the external intelligence-gathering arm of the British South Africa Police Special Branch in the early 1960s, under the Southern Rh ...

in 1997. Some reports maintain that from 1992, acting as a high-level security officer at the Sheraton Hotel, she provided information to Mugabe on Emmerson Mnangagwa who was then the de facto head of the CIO. She denies these assertions. In 1997, she began studying in the Environment and Tourism department at the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the Univers ...

. She left for Switzerland two years later, graduating in Hotel and Tourism Administration in 2001. On her return to Zimbabwe, she joined the finance department of ZANU-PF in

Kwekwe Kwekwe ( ), formerly known as Que Que, is a city in the Midlands province in central Zimbabwe. The city has a population of 119,863 within the city limits, as of the 2022 census, making it the 7th-largest city in Zimbabwe and the second-mo ...

. Following an unsuccessful attempt to stand for the ZANU-PF in her native Mazowe Central, she joined the party's Central Committee in 2009. On behalf of Zanu-PF, she set up a number of women's banks in at Silobela,

Zhombe Zhombe, originally known as Jombe, is a rural communal area in Kwekwe District, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. It is an area of mixed Shona and Northern Ndebele People. It lies along the Mnyathi border line between Midlands and Mashonaland Pro ...

and Chirumanzu-Zibagwe in Zimbabwe's

Midlands Province Midlands is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of and a population of 1,811,905 (2022). It is home to various peoples. Located at a central point in the country, it contains speakers of Shona, Ndebele, Tswana, Sotho and Chewa, as well as ...

. Following her husband's appointment as Vice-President, she stood as the Member of Parliament for

Chirumanzu–Zibagwe Chirumanzu–Zibagwe is a constituency of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe, National Assembly of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Parliament of Zimbabwe, located in the Chirumhanzu District in Midlands Province. Mvuma, a small mining town, is one of t ...

. After the withdrawal of the two other candidates, she went on to win the parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

in 2015. In 2024, the United States imposed sanctions on Auxilia, her husband Emerson, Vice President

Constantino Chiwenga Constantino Guveya Dominic Nyikadzino Chiwenga (born Constantine Chiwenga; 25 August 1956), is a Zimbabwean politician and former army general currently serving, since 2017, as the First Vice-President of Zimbabwe under President Emmerson Mnan ...

and 11 other Zimbabwean individuals and entities for involvement in human rights abuses, corruption, and minerals smuggling.

Personal life

She married Emmerson Mnangagwa following the death of his previous wife Jayne, the sister of

Josiah Tongogara Josiah Magama Tongogara (4 February 1938 – 26 December 1979) was a prominent Zimbabwean guerrilla commander during the Rhodesian Bush War. He was the brother of the current Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa's first wife, Jayne. He atte ...

, at which point she became his second wife. They have three children together: Emmerson Jr., Sean, and Collins.

Electoral history

References

External links

*''Telegraph'' photograph o
Auxillia and Emmerson Mnangagwa
arriving at the presidential inauguration on 24 November 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mnangagwa, Auxillia 1963 births Living people First ladies of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa ZANU–PF politicians Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe University of Zimbabwe alumni People from Mashonaland Central Province 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians Members of the 8th Parliament of Zimbabwe

Biography

Personal life

Electoral history

See also

References

External links