Robert Mugabe fell over, tried to hide it and ended up becoming a meme
Robert Mugabe fell over, tried to hide it and ended up becoming a meme
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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe falls after addressing supporters upon his return from an African Union meeting in Ethiopia on Wednesday. Mugabe, 90, was elected chairman of the African Union and is set to celebrate his 91st birthday on Feb. 21. |
Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president and recently elected chairman of the African Union (A.U.), was in Harare on Wednesday to give a speech. As he walked down from the podium, he appeared to trip and fall. It was caught on film.
For a 90-year-old man, a trip is understandable. What's less easy to understand is what happened next: Zimbabwe's government issued a denial.
"The hump on which the
president tripped was formed by two pieces of the carpet which
apparently had not 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,” Moyo said.
The information minister's comments formed part of a broader media response. While international media such as the Associated Press caught it on film,
local photographers are claiming
that they were forced to delete their pictures of the fall by Mugabe's
security personnel. For many Twitter users, the response to the fall
seemed ridiculous: And thus, a meme was born:
#MugabeFalls.The official concern over the public perception of Mugabe's health is nothing new.
The Zimbabwean strongman will be 91 in February and has led
his country for almost 35 years, a period during which he has slowly
become an international pariah.
Exactly what happens after he leaves office isn't clear, and reports about his health are treated like state secrets by
the Zimbabwean government. On his 90th birthday, for
example, a spokesman had to deny reports that his frequent trips to Singapore were due to treatment for undisclosed colon cancer.
Asked how he was on Thursday, Mugabe himself dismissed the concern. "I am okay, it was just a slip," he said, according to the Zimbabwe Herald.
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