Is Mugabe dying? Plane diverted but aides refuse to answer health fears
By Zoie Obrien | The Express |
Flight trackers recording the movements of Robert Mugabe’s plane have shown it make a sharp turn towards Dubai midway through a flight to Singapore.
The Zimbabwean president, 92, is known to fly to the Far East for medical treatment due to his country’s ailing healthcare system.
However, an explanation as to why the Air Zimbabwe plane diverted unexpectedly to the Middle East in the early hours of Wednesday morning, have not been given.
The jet had taken off from Harare for Singapore at 10:45pm on Tuesday.
Speculation mounted when government officials refused to reveal why Mugabe’s jet had visited Dubai.
His spokesperson George Charamana said: “Each time you people don’t know the purpose of the President’s visit, there is always a default explanation that he is ill.
“So the life of the President springs between a known mission and illness. If I don’t tell you the purpose, it should be illness.
“I will not give you the purpose of the President’s visit to run away from the default explanation. This is not new.
“It is year in, year out, he is sick, he dies and resurrects. His life until the age of 92 revolves around illness and death.”
Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader has been the president of the African nation since 1987 having been prime minister since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.
The nation adopted the US dollar last year after rampant inflation wrecked finances.
At one point the inflationary figure ran at almost 80 BILLION per cent.
His critics say he has presided over the destruction of a once-promising country with policies such as the seizures of white-owned farms.
But Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party blames foreign powers for sabotaging the economy with sanctions.
Over the past two months, there have been protests in Zimbabwe calling for economic and political reforms.
Alongside the protests, there have been widespread strikes over unpaid salaries.
