PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe arrived home from Asia on Thursday morning looking fit and defying reports that he was seriously ill.
The 88-year-old leader bounded down the stairs of a white chartered plane, accompanied by his wife and was met at Harare's main airport by senior government officials, including vice president Joice Mujuru.
Mugabe did not speak to reporters and was whisked away in his official presidential motorcade.
His Zanu PF party dismissed reports that he had been gravely ill as "a lot of hogwash" by hostile Western media organisations.
He is scheduled to chair a ministerial meeting later Thursday, two days later than first scheduled, the party said.
Mugabe has made ten trips to Singapore in the past 16 months, reportedly for medical treatment. Said to be under treatment for prostate cancer, the veteran leader has called for elections this year and has been nominated as his party's only presidential candidate.
This time around, Mugabe left Harare on March 31 to supervise post graduate studies for his daughter Bona, 22, in Hong Kong, his office said.
Intense speculation on his health came after a popular Nigerian preacher claimed to prophesy the imminent death of an elderly, autocratic Africa ruler. Malawi's 78-year-old president then died on April 5.
Information Minister Webster Shamu had invited reporters to the Harare airport to witness Mugabe's arrival. He said the media had "spread rumours."
"As you can see, he is fit as a fiddle. Why do we spread rumours? It's all lies told by a press driving an imperialist agenda," he said to a group of reporters at the airport.
Mugabe landed in a white Airbus 319 private jet chartered by a diamond mining company. Air Zimbabwe, which he routinely used, was grounded by debts in January.
Reporters said his arrival was brisk and businesslike. Mugabe held the hand of his wife Grace and was dressed as usual in an impeccable dark business suit.
Style ... Mugabe flew home in a Bermuda-registered Airbus 319
Mugabe has appeared robust at recent public appearances.
In broadcasts marking his 88th birthday in February he said he was "as fit as a fiddle." He joked then he had been resurrected more often than Jesus Christ after detractors frequently pronounced him dead.
n the broadcasts, he also acknowledged he had not groomed a successor in his fractious Zanu PF party.
Persistent reports of his failing health have intensified infighting in the party between factions led by Vice President Joice Mujuru and Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.Mujuru's group has been weakened by the death of her husband, a former guerrilla leader and army commander seen as a major Zanu PF power broker. Gen. Solomon Mujuru was burnt beyond recognition in a mysterious house fire last year and though questions remained over how he died a court ruled there was no foul play in his death.  Smiles all around ... Mugabe speaks to State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi at the airport |
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