Mystery over Mugabe “sick trip” to Dubai as spokesman contradicts president

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

President Robert Mugabe and his spokesperson, George Charamba, have given contradicting explanations regarding the president’s recent trip to Dubai.

Mugabe claimed he had travelled to Dubai on a family trip while Charamba said he had gone there on a pre-scheduled visit.

Mugabe flew out to Mbabane, Swaziland, for a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on Monday, abruptly returned the following day before taking off for the Far East on the same day.

The unexplained turn in his itinerary fuelled speculation that he had been airlifted for emergency medical attention in the Far East, with some reports claiming that he had stroked and died.

Mugabe, however, returned home on Saturday in the company of his wife, Grcae, and told journalists that he had visited an unspecified child in Dubai.

“I had gone on a family matter to Dubai concerning one of my children,” he said.

He added sarcastically: “Yes, I was dead. It’s true I was dead. I resurrected as I always do. Once I get back to my country I am real”.

However, Charamba, who writes in the Saturday edition of the government-controlled Herald as Nathaniel Manheru, gave a contradicting version of Mugabe’s mysterious trip to Dubai.

He claimed Mugabe had left the SADC heads of State and government convention prematurely because he already had planned an official trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“It turns out this week’s SADC fixture clashed with a prior official trip to United Arab Emirates (UAE), or what the oppositional local media reduce to Dubai, all in the hope of contriving unsavoury connotations.

“The President flew to Swaziland for the crucial first day of the SADC summit and then came back, to leave the country the same day for UAE.

“Expectedly, the oppositional media indulged in habitual self-excitation which is no longer news to anyone anymore,’ wrote Charamba. Nehanda Radio