Zimbabwe’s former President Robert Mugabe will for the first time since 1963 miss ZANU-PF ruling party’s congress to be held in the country’s capital Harare on Friday.
The country’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to preside over the party’s extraordinary congress.
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association spokesperson and Zanu PF Harare provincial commissar, Douglas Mahiya said Mugabe was no longer a member of the ruling party, local online website, NewsDay reports.
“He (Mugabe) had lost the plot. He had lost the way and was walking out of step with our ideals. Mugabe’s position as both a member of the party and leader had become untenable, hence, we did not expect that the leadership would invite him, let alone allow him to attend,” Mahiya reportedly said.
The portrait of former President Cde Robert Mugabe is removed before the start of the Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting at the party's headquarters today. Pic by Wilson Kakurira #ZanupfCongress17 pic.twitter.com/yBiqOTBQCL
— The Herald Zimbabwe (@HeraldZimbabwe) December 14, 2017
Mugabe was initially elected Zanu secretary-general when the party was formed in 1963 following the split in the then Zapu before he took over as leader in 1977.
Mugabe was seen visiting a Singapore hospital on Friday during a trip to the city-state for a medical check-up.
It was the first time he has been seen in public since he was forced to resign after a military takeover brought a sudden end to his authoritarian 37-year reign, AFP reports.
He has been in increasingly frail health and has reportedly battled prostate cancer.
In recent years he has made several trips to Singapore for medical check-up.
