ZVISHAVANE- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday castigated individuals peddling false reports on President Robert Mugabe’s health. He said it was not morally right to wish the ageing dictator dead.
Addressing thousands of people gathered at Maglas Stadium during commemorations to mark World Health Day, Tsvangirai said there was “a difference between aging and sickness”.
“Ngatiregeyi kuti kana munhu aenda kundorapiwa toti avakufa. Let us respect our elders. Rudo rwevanhu vakuru haruperi,” he said.
“Kukura hakusi kurwara. Nezuro chaiye pandakaona President kuCabinet ndakati ‘aah, murikufa muchimuka here imi?’ Ndikati ‘inga mapepa aiti makafa wani?’ Zvikanzi zvinoita mapepa hauzvizivi here? (We must desist from claiming that when a person seeks treatment, he is dying.
“Aging is not sickness. Yesterday I told the President in Cabinet that ‘you are dying and resurrecting’ and he said ‘don’t you know how the media behaves?’)
Mugabe returned to Harare early on Thursday, amid fresh rumors about his health after spending almost two weeks on a private visit to Singapore. Despite the long haul flight from Singapore, via Johannesburg, Mugabe chaired a cabinet meeting that started soon after 10am.
He went to Singapore on 31st March on what was officially described as a visit related to his daughter’s education. But analysts believe he was continuing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.
Credible reports say he had an ‘episode’ at his home and was flown to Singapore as a matter of urgency. His decision to cancel two cabinet meetings, as well as a special ZANU PF politburo meeting, fuelled speculation that he had encountered health problems.
A report by The Zimbabwe Mail website claiming that Mugabe was on his “deathbed” and “undergoing intensive treatment in Singapore” torched off international headlines that Mugabe was ‘battling for his life’.
Last year the 88 year old travelled to the Far East more than eight times. According to a leaked 2008 US diplomatic cable, central bank chief Gideon Gono told then-US ambassador James McGee that Mugabe had prostate cancer and had been advised by doctors he had less than five years to live.
