Robert Mugabe sick, jets to Singapore for treatment

Mr. Robert Mugabe, the 93-year-old President of Zimbabwe is sick and has gone to Singapore for treatment or what local media say is “routine medical check-up”.


“President Mugabe on Friday left the country for Singapore for a routine medical check-up,” Africa Review quoted local media.

The paper said the veteran ruler is expected back in Zimbabwe midweek. President Mugabe’s medical trips to the Southeast Asia city state have become more frequent in recent years. His previous visit was in May, also said to be for a “routine medical check-up”.

In 2011 and 2014 he had eye surgery in a hospital in Singapore. President Mugabe now walks with difficulty and sometimes dozes off during meetings.

His health has been the subject of increased speculation in recent years and authorities in March arrested two journalists over a report alleging that he was “in bad shape” In 2016, the government had to deny that he had died abroad during his annual vacation. President Mugabe has declined to name a successor and his ruling Zanu-PF party has been riven by factionalism for years. Despite President Mugabe’s advanced age, the party last year endorsed him as its candidate for the 2018 General Election.

The leader is not the only African president currently abroad for treatment for an undisclosed condition. Some other African leaders have also taken ill, including President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently recuperating in London. Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos recently spent a month in Spain for medical treatment and on Monday officials announced that he had gone back for what was described as a “private visit”.

Mugabe was born 21 February 1924 and became is a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who has been President of Zimbabwe since 1987.

He previously led Zimbabwe as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987. He chaired the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) group from 1975 to 1980 and has led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), since 1980.