BY Taiwo George
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe recently threatened to punch a reporter to prove that he is still active and fit to rule.
This happened while he was responding to a question on whether he was grooming a successor.
“Why? I’m still here? Why do you want a successor? Do you want me to floor you with a punch for you to feel I’m still here?” he asked.
Recently, the 92-year-old leader, who has been in power since his country gained independence in 1980, said he would celebrate his 100th birthday in office.
“I am happy because I am about to reach the age I want. You know the age I want to reach – 100 years. So only eight years remaining,” he said.
“I am still here. Why do you want a successor? I did not say I am a candidate to retire. Leaders were elected not appointed. In a democratic party, you don’t want leaders appointed that way to lead the party,” he had said.
“They have to be appointed properly by the people, at a gathering of the people, at a congress.”
Mugabe said he was not behind his wife Grace’s quick rise within ZANU-PF, the ruling party, which has led to reports that she has plans to succeed him.
“Others say the president wants to leave the throne for his wife. Where have you ever seen that, even in our own culture, where a wife inherits from her husband?” he asked.
Last month, his wife told party supporters that he was the only one who could keep Zimbabwe “intact and peaceful”.
She added that she would push him in a wheelbarrow to work if he was unable to walk.
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