Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has left for Malaysia for his annual vacation, leaving the country’s newly appointed vice-president Joyce Mujuru in charge, state radio said Tuesday.
Mujuru becomes the first woman to act as interim head of state and will be in charge until January 8, when Mugabe returns.
She was appointed second vice-president at the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) congress in Harare earlier this month, replacing the late Simon Muzenda.
Mugabe and his family, who left Harare late Monday, will holiday with Zimbabwe’s Paralympic gold medallist Elliot Mujaji, who won a vacation with the first family after he returned from the October Paralympic Games in Greece in triumph.
Mugabe, who is under European Union and American travel sanctions, has in recent years vacationed in Malaysia. Earlier, however, Mugabe and his family took their yearly break in Europe and would normally make a stopover in London. – Sapa-AFP