President Robert Mugabe is in the news again. This time, the 93 year old revolutionary and politician who has been on the power seat for almost 37 years, has left Zimbabwe on Friday for Singapore on a ‘routine medical check-up’, as local media would have it said. Serving as Africa’s oldest ruler while maintaining that even though his party would chose a successor, he planned to contend in the coming election in 2018.
Reports had it that Minister Chris Mushohwe of Information and Broadcasting Services, told the Standard newspaper that Mugabe was in Singapore but vehemently declined to ascertain the purpose of the visit. Subsequently, George Charamba who happened to be his spokesman and Mushohwe didn’t respond to calls and messages on their phones for comments. It was claimed that he’d be back by midweek.
However, reports from News24 Correspondent had it that a senior government official close to his family said that there’s traces of declination in the man’s cognitive abilities. Evident was that as at February of last year, the 2015 Mugabe Falls debacle went viral after he slipped on the red carpet at Harare International Airport. The youth rally scheduled for July 14 have then been cancelled due to the absence of Mugabe.
It was reported that in the previous years, Mugabe has embarked on several medical trips to Southeast Asia city state. Previous visits in May 2011 and 2014 were claimed to be for an eye surgery done in Singapore.
The legendary man who has risen drastically from being a Prime minister to a President is gradually feeling the effects of ageing though he opposes the propositions. Reports have it that Mugabe has been having difficulty in walking, dozing off in meetings, speech gaffes, swollen ankles, eye cataracts and imbalance. The government denies he falls asleep in meetings, in response to the footage which had appeared to show him doing so that he’s resting his eyes.
The President now moves with numbered security aides at least five who stay tight to him to prevent him from falling due to aggravated frailty, the interpretation goes further that his wife Grace sometimes walk hand in hand with him to safeguard his movement. He was known for climbing stairs effectively but reports gathered shows that a lift has been created in most cases for him. The contact lenses applied by him these days have been deduced to imply a diminishing eyesight upon the president. Mugabe has however declined to name a successor, despite uprisings.
Correspondent: Olayiwola A. Ridwan
