President Robert Mugabe is said to be in Singapore on a private visit which the State media said was to arrange post-graduate studies for his daughter, but a sources last night said Mugabe deleveloped complications on Friday evening and overnight arrengements were made to fly him to Asia.
“President Mugabe left the country yesterday (Saturday) evening on a private visit to Singapore,” the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper said.
On Sunday, speculation on Mugabe’s death got out control probably fuelled by leaks by members of his staff, but it later turned out to be feeding into the April Fools Day banter as text messages and rumour mills escalated on internet social networks.
The Zimbabwe Mail reporters on Sunday received numerous calls and text messages from Zimbabwean people in New York, London, Berlin, and Tokyo inquiring on the speculation.
Last night a source on duty at the Harare International Airport revealed that they witnessed unusual high level security activity at the airport.
The Sunday Mail said that Mugabe would oversee arrangements for his daughter Bona to begin post-graduate work, after she received her accounting degree last year, but our source said, that was a combative leak by George Charamba, Mugabe’s spokesman cla on the speculation.
Mugabe, 88, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, visited Singapore several times last year. His spokesman said the president had gone for cataract surgery amid repeated media reports that he was suffering from cancer.
His health has been the subject of much speculation, especially since WikiLeaks last year released a 2008 US diplomatic cable saying central bank chief Gideon Gono had 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.
Mugabe’s health has been cited as one reason that a faction of his ZANU-PF party has pushed to rush new elections.
But Mugabe, who has already been named as his party’s candidate for the next elections, has shot down rumours that he is sick.