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Caesar Zvayi Harare Bureau
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday tripped over a poorly-laid carpet at Harare International Airport, but remarkably managed to break the fall before walking to his car, evidently unscathed.The Zanu-PF leader 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, Ethiopia, where he spent a busy week chairing AU plenary meetings in addition to meeting African leaders, President Mugabe turned to leave and was walking down a flight of steps when he tripped over.
Remarkably, the President, 90, broke his fall and landed on his knee. Aides helped him back to his feet and he was able to walk to his car.
Last night, the President’s fall was attracting excited headlines around the world, with many linking it to old age or poor health.
Ironically, just seconds earlier, the President had admonished the media for specialising in non-issues.
“Don’t be writers who always criticise,” he said.
“When journalists fail to get something to write about, they look for non-existing issues. We don’t want that. We want the truth, teaching our people the truth. I appeal to you journalists to be people with knowledge of policies happening in various countries. Reporting on the progress that we achieve and this must constitute new steps for us to make further progress until we achieve our objectives. That’s what we want.”
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Prof Jonathan Moyo, who witnessed the incident, said the real news lay in the misrepresentation of the incident by malcontents in the media.
“The misrepresentations and morbid celebrations of the incident by malcontents is the real news here and not the alleged fall as there was none,” he said.
“What happened is that the President tripped over a hump on the carpet on one of the steps of the dais as he was stepping down from the platform, but he remarkably managed to break the fall on his own. I repeat that the President managed to break the fall.
“Nobody has shown any evidence of the President having fallen down because that didn’t happen. The hump on which the President tripped was formed by two pieces of the carpet which apparently hadn’t been laid out properly where they joined. And to be honest with you, even Jesus, let alone you, would have also tripped in that kind of situation.
“In the circumstances, there’s really nothing to write home about the nonsensical celebrations by malcontents who are imagining a fall that never was since it was actually broken by the President himself.”
This is not the first time a poorly laid out carpet has caused a head of state and/or government to stumble.
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard fell face first near the Ghandi Memorial during an official visit to India in October 2012.
Former United States President George Bush, missed a step while watching the Athens Olympics in 2008, and required the help of aides to stop him from an ignominious fall.
Five years earlier, in 2003, Bush was left bruised after falling head-first from a Segway — a stand-on scooter designed to make motorised travel user-friendly.
Queen Sofia of Spain, stumbled at the White House, with President Bill Clinton coming to the rescue, as she ascended steps during a visit to Washington in 2000.
In 1975, US president Gerald Ford tumbled down the Air Force One stairs while visiting Austria.
Online Reporter