Bona Mugabe route to talks in Beijing and praised the Hong Kong government for protecting her from British journalists. She subsequently also earned a master's degree in banking and finance from the Management Development Institute of Singapore. In March 2015, while her mother was sick, Bona Mugabe was part of Zimbabwe's official delegation during a state visit to Japan, and sat by her father's side during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. Her presence was criticized by Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai, the leading opposition party in Zimbabwe as evidence of a Mugabe dynasty. In May 2017, she was
Thabo Mbeki election in Zimbabwe prompted debate within the Commonwealth and led to a difficult decision to suspend Zimbabwe from the organisation. Mbeki supported Mugabe during this period. It is thought that Mbeki viewed Mugabe as "a victim of imperialist meddling and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as a Western stooge." The full meeting of the Commonwealth had failed in a consensus to decide on the issue, and they tasked the previous, present (at the time), and future leaders of Commonwealth (respectively President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Howard of Australia, and Mbeki of South Africa) to come to a