Zimbabwe dictator-president Robert Mugabe spent 90th birthday in S'pore undergoing eye surgery

US$1 million birthday celebration prepared for him when he goes back.

Belmont Lay| February 21, 07:44 PM

On his 90th birthday on Friday, Robert Mugabe spent it in Singapore undergoing eye surgery.

The Zimbabwe dictator-president and Africa's oldest ruler, who has ruled his country for 34 years since independence from Britain, has been to Singapore more than half a dozen times the last five years to seek medical treatment for an assortment of ailments.

Even though his hospital trips here have mostly been hush hush affairs, when they do get leaked to the media, they will reignite rumours that he is in poor health.

As he is not expected to be back in Zimbabwe until Sunday, preparations are underway where US$1 million is rumoured to have been spent on an elaborate birthday celebration in a stadium.

And it is not just Mugabe the leader who is familiar with Singapore.

Mugabe's daughter, Bona Mugabe, 24, graduated with a Master of Science in Banking from the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) in November last year.

Last 15 years of Mugabe's rule

Like the late Nelson Mandela, Mugabe is a black revolutionary, anglophile, a prisoner-turned-president and was for racial reconciliation and recognised as a darling of the west.

However, unlike Mandela, who is revered as a leader, Mugabe's rule in the last 15 years has been characterised by corruption, land snatching, torture, an ongoing Aids epidemic, plummeting life expectancy of his country men and women, hyperinflation, brain drain and overall power-grabbing political instability.

 

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