Could Grace Mugabe succeed her husband as president?

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has been replaced by his wife, Grace Mugabe, according to the country's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai told local media that the 91-year-old president's wife was now "effectively in charge" following months of uncertainty within the ruling party.

Calling it a "palace coup", Tsvangirai is reported by South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper as saying, "No one in government is thinking of solutions to the national challenges as everyone is preoccupied with issues of who will succeed this tired man steering the ship of state".

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In the last 18 months, Grace Mugabe has taken an increasingly prominent role in Zimbabwe's politics, spearheading the fight to get Joice Mujuru removed from her position as vice-president last year. She has also garnered the support of younger members of the party – dubbed the G-40 – but remains poorly thought of amongst the wider public.

Local media have reported two competing camps within the ruling party forming around army chief Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mrs Mugabe, despite president Mugabe's warnings that the jockeying for power "threatens to split the party".

Amid this battle, Tsvangirai's claim that Grace Mugabe had "surreptitiously but willingly" assumed power appears to be a move designed to take advantage of the current rifts and garner support for his opposition party.

The Guardian claims that Mrs Mugabe's "recent aggressive statements against those she deems insufficiently loyal to her husband" have come when Mr Mugabe is looking “increasingly frail”.

"The famously austere Mugabe," the paper adds, "has long been in robust physical and mental condition, but several mishaps in recent months have sent tongues wagging".

President Mugabe, who turns 92 in two months' time, has been in power since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. Up until now he has appeared to be in relatively good health, although he stumbled twice in public this year and read the wrong speech at the state opening of parliament earlier this year without realising his error.

Morgan Tsvangirai lost to him in presidential elections in 2002, 2008 and 2013. The opposition leader has repeatedly claimed Mugabe rigged and intimidated his way to victory.