TheCable

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe says his country is the “most highly developed country in Africa” after South Africa, putting the country ahead of  Nigeria and Egypt.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban, South Africa, Mugabe said “After South Africa, I want to see what country has the level of development that you see in Zimbabwe.”

“We have over 14 universities and our literacy rate is over 90 [%] – is the highest in Africa.

“Yes, we have our problems… but we have resources, perhaps more than the average country in the world, is it gold, diamond, coal… and our agriculture is very viable and this year we will have a bumper harvest.”

He added that the economy was improving, and denied that the country was a fragile state.

Zimbabwe has been struggling to pay its civil servants recently and is ranked 24th on the UNDP’s Human Development Index for Africa, and 154th in the world.

Nigeria came in on the development index at 152 — two places ahead of Zimbabwe.

The 93-year-old has led the nation as the only president since independence in 1980, plunging the country into one of the biggest currency crises in human history.