President Robert Mugabe arrived home from Singapore yesterday morning and later chaired Cabinet, quashing a media frenzy that the 88-year-old leader was battling for life in a hospital in the Asian country.
Mugabe returned as details started emerging that he and his entourage were initially due in Harare on Sunday, but could not secure a flight from Singapore because of late bookings.
It also emerged that authorities in Harare contemplated to dispatch an Air Zimbabwe plane to pick up Mugabe in Singapore, amid growing false international and social media reports that he was on the verge of death. The plan was abandoned due to financial and technical reasons.
His arrival shortly after 7am at Harare International Airport aboard a private chartered white Airbus jet ended the media frenzy on his health. Some online publications claimed Mugabe had resigned to his fate and handed over power to Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The reports were trashed by senior Zanu PF and government officials early this week.
Mugabe reportedly used Singapore Airlines, which is in code share with South African Airways to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he boarded the private jet to Harare. The jet is believed to have been hired by mining firm Mbada Diamonds.
The President deplaned in the company of the First Lady, Grace Mugabe, who held his hand down the steps where he was met by visibly excited Cabinet ministers, senior government officials and service chiefs.
Among the Cabinet members were Vice-President Joice Mujuru; Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu;Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere; Transport minister Nicholas Goche and State Security minister Sydney Sekeramayi.
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Ministers from both MDC parties were not at the airport to welcome Mugabe.
Service chiefs, believed to be the power behind Mugabes throne, present at the airport included Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga, Airforce Commander Air Marshal Perence Shiri, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and Central Intelligence Organisation Director-General Happyton Bonyongwe.
Mugabe greeted the officials at the airport before he was held by hand by Mujuru who led him slowly to his official vehicle. The President, who usually grants the trademark one foot in the vehicle interviews, yesterday chose not to speak to a battery of local and foreign journalists who were at the airport as early as 5am.
Shamu said the return of a fit as a fiddle Mugabe had shamed the media. People have to tell their own story now. They have seen reality. He is as fit as a fiddle. Why do we wish somebody dead and lie about our Head of State? Why pander to the agenda of imperialism? Shamu queried soon after the arrival of the veteran leader.
Later in the day, Shamu told NewsDay that Mugabe had chaired Cabinet, which unusually did not last long.
Reliable sources said Mugabe left on a one-way flight to Singapore on March 31 for a regular medical check-up and eye pressure treatment although the official line was that he had gone to arrange post-graduate studies for his daughter, Bona.
The sources said Mugabe failed to secure a flight on Saturday to Johannesburg, South Africa, because it was fully booked. This would have resulted in him arriving home on Sunday.
Plans were then made to fly an Air Zimbabwe plane to pick up Mugabe, but were abandoned because of various reasons, among them that the Boeing 767 was not insured.
President Mugabe was supposed to have been picked up by a long-haul flight and Air Zimbabwe normally uses a Boeing 767, one of the sources said. There was no Air Zimbabwe flight as the company suspended operations two months ago due to a saddling debt that include workers salaries, insurance, ground hauling agents, navigation fees and fuel suppliers.
But Air Zimbabwe acting chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga was adamant the airline was never assigned to pick up Mugabe.
We were never requested to do such an operation, was all Mavhunga said.
Shamu declined to comment on Mugabes travel arrangements. Meanwhile, The Zimbabwe Mail, an online publication that was the first to claim Mugabe was on deathbed, yesterday fired one of its editors in connection with the story.
The publication apologised to Mugabe and his family, but insisted it got the story from a senior Zanu PF official. The international and social media used The Zimbabwe Mail story to speculate on Mugabes health status.
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