[5] Starting as a secretary to Mugabe, she rose in the ranks of the ruling ZANU–PF party to become the head of its Women's League and a key figure in the Generation 40 faction.

[10] In 1970, she moved to Rhodesia, to live with her mother, Idah Marufu in Chivhu while her father stayed and worked in South Africa to support his family.

[17] Grace Mugabe enrolled as an undergraduate student at the School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University in China in 2007, studying the Chinese language.

Ultimately, the accusations against Mujuru resulted in her elimination as a candidate to succeed Mugabe and her effectively becoming an outcast within ZANU-PF by the time it held a party congress in December 2014.

While addressing an audience at Mahofa's memorial service, Mnangagwa claimed he was poisoned at a ZANU PF Youth Interface rally in Gwanda.

[25][citation needed] In November 2017, Grace was instrumental in the firing of the then Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, after reprimanding him for causing divisions in Zanu PF.

The country was in heightened tension and soon after that while Emmerson Mnangagwa had sought refuge outside of Zimbabwe, the military took over in a bloodless coup under General Constantino Chiwenga.

[33] IOL news speculated that this property acquisition was intended as both a weekend getaway for their daughter, Bona, who was studying at the University of Hong Kong under an assumed name,[34] and that she and her husband expect to escape to China should they be ousted from power in Zimbabwe.

[35] Spokesperson Jiang Yu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said she was not aware of the Mugabes' alleged house purchase in Hong Kong and would not comment further.

[35] It was reported in 2015 that Zimbabwe was involved in a legal dispute over the ownership of the property in Tai Po in which Bona Mugabe had stayed whilst a student in Hong Kong.

[38] In December 2010 U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks brought up again earlier allegations[39] that high-ranking Zimbabwean government officials and well-connected elites, including Mugabe's wife Grace, are generating millions of dollars in personal income by hiring teams of diggers to hand-extract diamonds from the Chiadzwa mine in eastern Zimbabwe.

[42][21] The Daily Telegraph called her "notorious at home for her profligacy" in the coverage of a 2003 trip to Paris,[43] during which she was reported as spending £75,000 (approx US$120,000) in a short shopping spree; and in the years leading up to 2004 withdrew over £5 million from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe.

[57] In August 2017, while visiting South Africa to treat an ankle injury, Grace is said to have assaulted a 20-year-old model, Gabriella Engels, and two friends, who were in the company of her two younger sons, Robert Jr. and Chatunga, at a hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.

[58] It is alleged that Grace hit the women and her sons, with an extension cord, causing various injuries including a deep gash on Engels' forehead.

After charges were laid by Engels for "assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm", Grace was due to appear at a Johannesburg court on 15 August 2017, but failed to do so;[60] she was subsequently granted diplomatic immunity.

[62] On 30 July 2018, the South African High Court stripped Grace of her diplomatic immunity and allowed the case involving her assault against Engels to proceed.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a provision ordering the Mugabe family to vacate the Dam and return their share to the Environment, Water, and Climate Ministry.