Robert Mugabe 'no longer able to walk' as health rapidly declines

Robert Mugabe giving an address earlier this year
AFP/Getty Images
Patrick Grafton-Green24 November 2018

Zimbabwe's former president Robert Mugabe is no longer able to walk as his health rapidly declines, his successor has said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa told ruling party supporters at a rally on Saturday that the 94-year-old has been in hospital in Singapore for two months.

"He can no longer walk but we will continue to take care of him," Mr Mnangagwa said.

The current president took over from his former mentor a year ago after Mr Mugabe stepped down under military pressure.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa
REUTERS

Mr Mnangagwa said Mr Mugabe was supposed to return to Zimbabwe on October 15 but was not feeling well.

He did not give further details about Mr Mugabe's condition.

The former president is now expected to return to Zimbabwe on November 30.

Mr Mugabe was the world's oldest head of state before his dramatic exit last year, having led the country for 37 years.

In a speech in July, on the eve of the nation’s historic election, he said he would not vote for Mr Mnangagwa and his former party Zanu-PF.

"I will not vote for those who have illegally taken power," he declared.

He said he quit to “avoid bloodshed”, blaming "evil and malicious characters" while accusing Mr Mnangagwa of conniving with the military chief to pull off a "coup".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in