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Harare Bureau
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was his sprightly self when he reported for work at his Munhumutapa offices in Harare yesterday morning, a day after a slip and tumble over a poorly-laid carpet made international headlinesPresident Mugabe arrived for work at 9.30AM and went straight into a Cabinet meeting, his spokesman George Charamba said.
“Today, as he got off his car,” Charamba said, “I snatched a short conversation with him at the foyer of the Munhumutapa Building. I asked, “Are you okay, Cde President?”
“Why?,” he said with a wry smile.
“After yesterday’s incident?”
“I’m okay; it was just a slip,” Charamba quoted the President as saying.
Charamba said he accompanied the President up a flight of stairs, and then into the Cabinet Room.
“He walked unaided all the time. In the Cabinet Room, he greeted and exchanged banter with his ministers on one side of the oval table, as he made his way to his seat. Before taking his seat, he greeted his two deputies, and gestured a greeting to the rest of the members of Cabinet sitting on the other side.
“Thereafter, we left the President to chair the day’s session.”
Cabinet usually sits on Tuesdays but yesterday’s session, Charamba said, arose from President Mugabe’s commitments in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which kept him away from home until Wednesday.
President Mugabe tripped over a poorly-laid carpet at the Harare International Airport, but remarkably managed to break the fall before walking to his car, evidently unscathed.
He had just addressed thousands of jubilant party supporters who had gathered to welcome him and celebrate his election as African Union chairman.
Speaking off the cuff for slightly over 43 minutes following a four-hour flight from Addis Ababa, President Mugabe turned to leave and was walking down a flight of steps when he tripped.
Remarkably, the President used his hands to break his fall and landed on his knees.
Aides helped him back to his feet and he was able to walk to his car, but not before greeting service chiefs and ministers who had lined up to welcome him.
The President’s fall attracted excited headlines around the world, with many linking it to old age or alleged poor health. Ironically, just seconds earlier, the President had admonished the media for specialising in non-issues.
Online Reporter