Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday acknowledged he had flown to South Africa at the weekend, saying it was to help a nephew with traditional marriage ceremonies.
The president told a gathering at a memorial service for his first wife, Ghanaian-born Sally Hayfron, who died in 1991 of a kidney ailment, that he is ”very fit” and only travelled to South Africa for family business.
He was responding to South African media that had reported his visit was to seek medical treatment after a vomiting fit.
Mugabe said he had gone to help his nephew Johnson Ngwenya pay the bride price for his traditional marriage.
”I flew on Saturday and I met the family and the bride,” Mugabe said.
The bride’s family wanted cows but were prepared to receive cash in lieu of the cattle.
”I had a few rands with me, so I paid R5 000. That’s all I went to do,” said the 79-year-old leader.
He denied that he was ill.
”I am very strong, I am very fit, and I thank God for that capacity,” he said.
”I have no doctors [in South Africa], all my doctors are here in Zimbabwe and I move around with my own doctors,” he was quoted as saying by state television.
Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba on Monday said: ”The president is as fit as none of his detractors can ever hope to be in a lifetime.”
Mugabe’s second wife, Grace — his former secretary — is almost 40 years younger than him. — Sapa-AFP