Barely a week after official threats to criminalize any discussion on President Robert Mugabe’s health, the ageing leader has flown out to Singapore with his aides, claiming yet again that he is due for a ‘routine eye check-up.’
In a statement, presidential spokesman George Charamba said Mugabe was going on a week-long ‘private visit’ during which he will undergo ‘a routine eye check-up following a recent procedure on the same.’
In February Charamba again claimed that his boss was going there for an eye check-up. He had given the same reason for another visit to the Asian country in June last year.
Despite these claims Mugabe’s visits to Singapore, including the one in November last year during which he attended his daughter Bona’s graduation, have often sparked speculation that he is under treatment for cancer. Suspicion that Mugabe is being treated for cancer was triggered by the 2010 WikiLeaks revelations that the then Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono had told US diplomats that Mugabe was suffering from the deadly disease and had less than five years to live.
Observers think that the recent threat by Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa, that government could criminalize discussion on both the succession issue and Mugabe’s health, indicate concern in the ruling party that their leader’s health is failing.
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Director Gabriel Shumba said Mugabe’s latest visit will ‘certainly fuel more speculation’, especially coming just days after Mutasa’s threat. He said Mugabe’s continued visits to Singapore for treatment indicate that it was time for him to retire…
South Africa Today – Africa News
