THE below table, put together in October 2010, categorises African First Ladies as ‘Beautiful’ in the first section, and uses ‘Motherly’ to describe those that the compiler of the table, Mr Lee Mwiti, considers to be matronly and ‘not so hot’.
It then indicates whether their husbands are ‘Strongman Leaning’, which covers those whom you might describe as half-democrats to the very authoritarian rulers, or ‘Democrats’ according to various freedom indices. An interesting pattern emerges:

BEAUTIFUL AFRICAN FIRST LADIES (In random order)

[table id=337 /]

*South Africa’s Zuma is a polygamist, with a rather mixed range of wives, from the plain and ordinary, to the striking.

MOTHERLY/MATRONLY AFRICAN FIRST LADIES

[table id=338 /]