/ 16 September 2015

Twitter in stitches over #Mugabewrongspeech

Mugabe appeared unaware he was repeating the same speech he gave during his State of the Nation address on August 25.
Mugabe appeared unaware he was repeating the same speech he gave during his State of the Nation address on August 25.

The Twittersphere has turned Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe reading a wrong speech into a reason why he should step down. Some sent out hilarious tweets, which led to the hashtag #Mugabewrongspeech trending. 

Mugabe read the wrong speech at the opening of a new session of Parliament in Zimbabwe on Tuesday. He appeared unaware he was repeating the same speech he gave during his State of the Nation address on August 25, when he was heckled by opposition members of Parliament. 

According to his spokesperson, George Charamba, the 91-year-old president was not aware he was delivering the same lines.

“There has been a mix-up of speeches resulting in a situation where … the president delivered the wrong speech,” said Charamba.

Mugabe was booed and heckled by the opposition while delivering his State of the Nation address last month. This time, Mugabe finished his speech without being interrupted.

Tom Eaton thinks Mugabe was not given a wrong speech but …

Zimbabwe’s minister of higher and tertiary education, Professor Jonathan Moyo, who sparked a heated debate on Twitter last month after he posted a tweet ridiculing the South African economy, came to the defence of the Zanu-PF leader. Moyo sent out a series of tweets stating that Mugabe read the wrong speech, but it remained relevant.

According to reports, at least six MPs from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) received a text message from a sender called Death warning them to behave. 

A few months ago, a video showing Africa’s oldest leader falling down the steps leading from a podium went viral and trended for days on social media.