PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe, facing calls to quit due to old age, has told his critics that he may be around longer, much longer.
South African President Jacob Zuma’s special envoys mediating between Zimbabwe’s ruling coalition parties this week expressed concerns about the 87-year-old veteran leader’s health after he made five trips to Asia since last December.
But Mugabe used an interview with the Southern Times newspaper – a joint venture between Zimbabwe and Namibia – to declare that he was in robust health.
Mugabe said he had a strict exercise regime horned during his 11 years of detention during the liberation struggle.
Using only bodyweight exercises, Mugabe says he has set his targets on living to the ripe age of 100 years.
“I fall sick when I don’t exercise,” Mugabe said. “Exercise develops calcium. Although I take calcium [supplements] in addition for the bones, I exercise.
“For now, I’m as good as my age says I must be. I’m not old, I am 87, but my body says the counting doesn't end at 87, at least you must get to a 100.”
Mugabe said although his wife, Grace, had bought gym equipment, he preferred non-machine exercise.
‘I’m not an enthusiast for gym,” Mugabe said. “I promised myself that I will not be exercised by machines. I’m my own machine. In prison we had no equipment, we just had ourselves and that’s what I still do today.”
Bodyweight exercises include push-ups, pull-ups, squats and crunch. Mugabe, who doesn’t drink alcohol, is also known to favour meditation and walks around the State House grounds.
Zuma's aides said this week they were "concerned about the succession law should Mugabe die or retire before the adoption of a new constitution, which is still being negotiated".