April 10, 2012
Robert Mugabe close to death: reports
Megan Levy
The Sydney Morning Herald
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is reportedly fighting for his life in a Singapore hospital with his wife and close family by his bedside.
The 88-year-old, who is believed to be suffering from prostate cancer, flew to Singapore late last month on what his aides described as a “private visit”.
A senior member of Mr Mugabe’s Zanu PF party told The Zimbabwe Mail that Mr Mugabe was enjoying an Easter break with his family in Asia, and denied that he was seeking treatment for a medical condition.
However, rumours are swirling that the ageing leader, now in power for three decades, is seeking treatment for prostate cancer following several bouts of therapy in Asia in recent years.
Mr Mugabe was said to be close to death last night and was surrounded by close family, including his wife, Grace, Britain’s Daily Mail reported.
It came as sources close to Mr Mugabe told The Daily Telegraph in London that Mr Mugabe had reached a secret “gentleman’s agreement” to hand over power in Zimbabwe to his feared Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former spy chief nicknamed “The Crocodile” and known for his ruthless style.
Mr Mnangagwa was widely blamed for the brutality following the 2008 presidential election after Mr Mugabe’s rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, took an early lead in the voting.
Mr Mugabe’s aides said he was also in Singapore to oversee arrangements for his daughter Bona to begin post-graduate university study, The Zimbabwe Mail reported.
“The President is on his Easter holidays, like everyone else,” the unidentified aide told the newspaper.
“He returns to his post this week, at the same time as those who are asking about his whereabouts from their holiday hideouts.”
Under Mr Mugabe’s rule, Zimbabwe has been racked by political turmoil.
The former guerilla leader was hailed a hero when he led Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 from the white-minority Rhodesian regime.
But after a promising start to his leadership, the country experienced a spectacular economic collapse. Mr Mugabe has since been accused of murdering thousands of Zimbabweans and crushing all opposition to his rule to retain a stranglehold on the presidency.
He fell out with his Western allies following land reforms in 2000 in which militant Zanu PF members seized land from white commercial farmers.
His policies have also been blamed for driving Zimbabwe into bankruptcy, with hyperinflation of 231 million per cent, a world record.
The ailing leader’s health has been the subject of intense speculation since WikiLeaks last year released a 2008 US diplomatic cable saying central bank chief Gideon Gono had told former US ambassador James McGee that Mr Mugabe had prostate cancer that would kill him by 2013.
The WikiLeaks document said: “President Robert Mugabe has prostate cancer that has metastasised and, according to doctors, will cause his death in three to five years.”
Despite frequent speculation fuelled by Mr Mugabe’s trips to Asia, top Zanu PF officials have repeatedly denied that Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, has a health problem.
They said previous trips had been necessitated by a cataract operation for Mr Mugabe and by back injuries his wife sustained in a fall in the couple’s Harare mansion.
Robert Mugabe had enjoyed a distinct honor in Britain since 1994: honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Civil Division of The Most Honorable Order of Bath (knighthood). Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced calls in the House of Commons for Mr Mugabe’s honorary Knighthood to be withdrawn. In 2008 Mugabe was stripped of his honorary knighthood.
Queen Elizabeth II and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe attending a conference in Durban, South Africa, in 1999. (Photo: Obed Zilwa/Associated Press)
The University of Massachusetts bestowed an honorary degree on Mugabe in 1986. The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees took an unprecedented step in 2008, rescinding an honorary degree awarded to Robert Mugabe in 1986. The vote was unanimous.
The University of Edinburgh granted Mr. Mugabe an honorary degree in 1984.
Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe receives his honorary degree from Edinburgh University at the McEwan Hall in 1984.
Picture: Denis Straughan
Picture: Denis Straughan
Edinburgh University’s Senate agreed in 2007 to strip Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe of his honorary degree.
Michigan State University granted Mr. Mugabe an honorary doctorate in 1990.
Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rescind the honorary degree in 2008
Zimbabwe’s High Court and Supreme Court judges were in attendance at Mugabe’s 2008 inauguration
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Video history
Rhodesia 1976
Rhodesia – end of an era
Robert Mugabe Interview in 1976, 4 years before the Zimbabwean independence
President Robert Mugabe’s speech on how U.S. President Ronald Reagan
and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reneged on their obligation to fund land reform in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe independence in 1980
Bob Marley & The Wailers – in Harare, Zimbabwe 1980 “Zimbabwe”
Independence celebration
Bob Marley & The Wailers – in Harare, Zimbabwe 1980 “Get Up, Stand Up”
Independence celebration
Zimbabwe-China Relation Two countries sign bilateral agreements
Dilemma X 
July 16, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Mugabe is truly only that the are trying to hide it but its only one thing that he’ll never escape “death”.