AFP — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 on Tuesday, has no plans to give up power, saying he has no “acceptable” successor in place.
“The call to step down must come from my party, my party at congress, my party at central committee,” Mugabe said in excerpts from a radio broadcast that will air this week and that were printed in the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper.
“But then what do you see? It’s the opposite. They want me to stand for elections.”
“The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, a successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am,” he added.
Mugabe, who has kept an iron grip on power since Zimbabwe declared independence in 1980, has repeatedly denied reports of health problems, fuelled in part by frequent trips to Dubai and Singapore.
He once quipped that he would rule until he turned 100.
“Of course if I feel that I can´t do it any more, I will say so to my party so that they relieve me. But for now, I think I can´t say so,” he said.
But Mugabe, long known for his fiery speeches, has appeared unusually subdued in recent public appearances, speaking slowly and keeping his addresses short.
In September, he read a speech to parliament, apparently unaware that he had delivered the same address a month earlier.
Zimbabwe’s economy has crumbled during Mugabe’s rule, and opponents of his regime are brutally repressed by security forces.
Inflation is rampant, and in recent months the country has experienced cash shortages, with the government struggling to pay civil servants.
Obama is available! Just sayin!
I’m a little surprised there aren’t obama faces on his chalkboard suit.
93 years old and in ill health? Satan will be calling him home before long.
He maybe still on the UN payroll as a “goodwill ambassador”. He made a disaster out of Zimbabwe, 24,000 % inflation. His spiritual chair is being kept warm for him.
Only the good die young, he must have Obamacare.
Now THAT is one FLY Negro!
The call for him to step down may also come from a AK47. The downside is the bloodshed that would occur until the neighboring countries invade.
….EX 0b0ng0 must be white with envy!
Rhodesia hasn’t been the same since they let an old retarded, degenerate African have the crank to the presidential jalopy!
Yet another socialist success story
Back when I was a boy, this sort of thing was a job for the CIA. But, that was back when we could trust the CIA to do what was in our best interest. Those were the days.