Sick Mugabe ‘cannot walk’

– Former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, who has been receiving medical treatment in Singapore for the last two months, is no longer able to walk, though he should return home next week.

Mugabe, 94, who ruled for nearly four decades since independence from Britain in 1980, was forced to resign in November 2017 after an army coup.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa told ruling Zanu-PF supporters on Saturday at a rally in Murombedzi, Mugabe’s village some 100km west of Harare, his predecessor had been due to return on October 15 but that his poor health had delayed him.

He did not say what treatment Mugabe had been undergoing. “We have just received a message that he is better now and will return on November 30. He can no longer walk but we will continue taking care of him,” Mnangagwa said, referring to Mugabe by his totem name Gushungo.

During his later years in power, Mugabe made several medical trips to Singapore. Officials often said he was being treated for a cataract, denying frequent reports by private local media that he had prostate cancer. – Reuters

Harare