Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has revealed that we wants to live until the age of 100, saying he is happy he is almost getting there.
“I am happy because I am about to reach the age I want. You know the age I want to reach – 100 years. So only eight years remain,” he said.
Mugabe also revealed that he will not pick his successor, saying the next president will be democratically elected by the people of Zimbabwe.
The long-serving leader also trashed talk of him leaving the presidency for his wife Grace Mugabe.
“Why successor? I am still there. Why do you want a successor? I did not say I was a candidate to retire. Leaders were elected not appointed,” the 92-year-old said in a two-hour interview with state broadcaster ZBC TV late on Thursday.
“In a democratic party, you don’t want leaders appointed that way to lead the party. They have to be appointed properly by the people, at a gathering of the people, at a congress.”
The former liberation fighter was chosen in 2014 to lead his party for another five years, automatically becoming the ZANU-PF presidential candidate for Zimbabwe’s 2018 presidential vote.
If he goes on to win a new term in 2018, his last under the new constitution, he will lead the country until he is 99-years-old.
The long serving president will face competition in the 2018 poll from his former deputy, Joyce Mujuru.
