The 93-year-old, who ruled
the southern African nation for 37 years, resigned after the army and his
ruling ZANU-PF party turned against him when it became clear that his
52-year-old wife, Grace, was being groomed as his successor.
Former president of
Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has left the country for medical checks in Singapore,
his first foreign travel since the army forced him from office in November, a
state security official said on Tuesday.
Until recently, Mugabe had
a reputation for extensive and expensive international travel, including
regular medical trips to Singapore, a source of public anger among his
impoverished citizens.
The official said he left
Harare with Grace and aides on Monday evening, the official said.
He is expected to make a
stop-over in Malaysia, where his daughter, Bona, is expecting a second child.
“He has gone for a routine
medical trip to Singapore,” said the official, who has organized Mugabe’s
security protection but who is not authorized to speak to the media.
“He was due for a check-up
but events of the last few weeks made it impossible for him to travel.”
The trip means Mugabe will
not be in Zimbabwe when ZANU-PF endorses President Emmerson Mnangagwa as its
leader and presidential candidate for 2018 elections during a one-day special
congress on Friday.
The security official would
not say how Mugabe was traveling although the privately owned NewsDay newspaper
said he was on a state-owned Air Zimbabwe plane.
Mugabe was granted immunity
from prosecution and assured of his safety under his resignation deal, a source
of frustration to many Zimbabweans who accused him of looting state coffers and
destroying the economy during his time in power.
Another government official
told Reuters in November that Mugabe had been due to travel to Singapore on
Nov. 16 but was unable to leave because the military had confined him to his
private home the previous day.
George Charamba, a senior
information ministry official, declined to comment.
Under Zimbabwe’s
Presidential Pension and Retirement Benefits Act, a former head of state is
entitled to perks including limited foreign travel and medical insurance.
“These are very standard
features of a retired president,” another government official said, trying to
head off any controversy.
“You are making a storm out
of nothing.”
Good he resign he cannot even hold a meeting
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