GWERU – President Emmerson Mnangagwa praised his wife’s “willingness to learn” after she graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree at Midlands State University on Thursday.

First lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, who already insisted on being referred to as “Dr” after being conferred an honorary Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree by GD Goenka University of India in May 2022, graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management.

She was one of 6,479 students graduating from the MSU.

Mnangagwa, who attends graduations as Chancellor for all State Universities, said: “I’m overjoyed because when we got married, she only had her Ordinary Level passes. She expressed her willingness to learn and I encouraged her because at that time I already had my law degrees.

“I helped her through Advanced Level, before she took her first degree. She never stopped until she attained a PhD, which I do not even have because I only ended at Masters Level.

“I’m so happy that she has reached the top and actually, she deserves it because at home she is always reading in the library.”

MSU vice chancellor Professor Victor Ngonidzashe Muzvidziwa said the 61-year-old publicity-chasing first lady had been an “exemplary student.”

“She showed humility from the proposal presentation to the oral defence of her thesis. She was an exemplary student. We recognise her exceptional work ethic, resilience and dedication to her studies,” he said.

“Above all, she humbled herself to her supervisors and her intellectual curiosity has been instructive to all of us. I salute all our graduates and salute the sacrifices they made.”

The first lady has been harvesting honorary doctorates. On top of the one from India, she received three more from the Russian State University for the Humanities in March 2023; the Zimbabwe Open University in December 2022 and another awarded by the University of Zimbabwe in September 2023 “in recognition of her philanthropic work with the Angel of Hope Foundation which she founded.”

A former intelligence officer, Auxillia Mnangagwa got her first degree in Hotel and Tourism Administration in 2001 from a University in Switzerland.

Zimbabwe’s former first lady Grace Mugabe also craved being referred to as a Dr, and it landed her in controversy in 2014 when she was awarded a PhD by the University of Zimbabwe just two months after entering the programme. She was conferred the degree by her husband, the late President Robert Mugabe.